System and method for interactive contests

ABSTRACT

A system and method provide content review, distribution, ranking and access and automate creation and performance of contests among sets of content-based contestants. The system and method provide customizable interactive, ongoing, multi-level, multi-round contests with expert review of and filtered submission of content-based contestants. Among other advantages, providers may use the system and method to obtain expert and consumer review and ranking of their content.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/613,495 entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERACTIVE CONTESTS filed onDec. 20, 2006, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/359,816, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERACTIVE CONTESTSfiled on Feb. 22, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,162,433, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/033,184, entitledSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERACTIVE CONTESTS, filed Oct. 24, 2001 andclaims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/242,784, entitled “VIRTUAL EXPERT REVIEW SYSTEM ANDMARKETING MACHINE”, filed Oct. 24, 2000, hereby incorporated in itsentirety by reference, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.60/302,612, entitled “CONTEST CREATION SYSTEM”, filed Jul. 2, 2001, alsohereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains to contests, ranking, and review ofcontent and specifically relates to systems and methods for creating,hosting and/or distributing automated contests, rankings and reviews ofcontent.

2. Description of the Related Art

There are few effective paths for producers of content to receive expertreviews of their works, whether the content is audio-visual (movies,music, books, scripts, etc.), products (food, cloths, wine, electronics,toys, etc.), or services (employee evaluations, tests, etc.) Similarly,outside of extensive demographic research, it is difficult for producersof content to obtain marketing research and consumer feedback data abouttheir works. Moreover, no system exists to provide automated contests,rankings and expert reviews in a system accessible to producers ofcontent, industry experts, and/or consumer end-users over a network suchas the Internet.

Content producers frequently seek to conduct online promotions of mediacontent inviting interactions with end-users such as purchases, forms,polls, discussions and the like. Ordinarily, a service provider, wholinks the content producer with consumer end-users over a network,develops static means to distribute content. Interactive capabilitiesfor existing service providers require extensive programming by eachservice provider and by each content producer who wishes to distributecontent. Large existing content providers, Internet content distributionsites, and peer-to-peer file-sharing networks each have distinctdisadvantages.

For example, content distribution companies cannot easily find the bestnew artists, authors or producers of content using existing methods.Reciprocally, consumer end-users of content cannot easily find the bestcontent, be it music, books, movies, or other creative works in anyparticular genre. Similarly, consumer end-users cannot readily findwidespread objective reviews of products or content.

In the music industry, for example, artists generally need large contentdistribution companies to market and distribute their content. However,it is difficult for most artists to get the attention of the people inthe industry who can start this process. Artist and Repertoire (A&R)personnel usually receive more unsolicited submissions than they havetime to review, and ask that artists submit content through a qualifiedmusic industry professional such as an agent, manager or attorney. Thecosts of hiring such representatives are prohibitive for most newartists. In most cases, an artist who sends a demo to an industryprofessional will get no attention. Unsolicited content from artists orunsolicited products is also a problem for industry professionals. Theseprofessionals generally do not have the time and resources to wadethrough a large undifferentiated volume of unsolicited materials to findthe few worthy of investment.

A provider is, for example, a web site operator, an Internet serviceprovider, an online promotions manager, an interactive televisionproducer, a kiosk provider, a game console provider, a set-top boxprovider, and the like. Content is created by a content producer, suchas, for example, an artist, author, designer, and the like. It isforeseen that a service provider can be a content producer.

Some interactive operations such as web-polls, media ratings, purchasesthrough electronic “shopping carts”, or interactive discussion forumsare available to providers from third parties. A provider can, forexample, subscribe to a web-poll created by a third party, for example,to provide a simple poll of the provider's end-users for marketing,trivia, entertainment, research purposes, and the like. A web poll is aninteractive operation where the responses are collected and ranked byfrequency or are compared with a predetermined correct answer. However,current web-poll interactive operations do not simultaneously allow forflexible media content, such as videos, audio, or virtually any playablecontent, do not allow for adjustable scoring mechanisms, do not allowfor registered end-users, do not allow for multiple round contests suchas elimination contests, do not allow for scorekeeping among end-users,do not allow for demographic correlation and marketing datainterpolation, do not allow for concurrent sweepstakes based on web pollvoting, and do not allow for complete customization of the interactiveoperation elements to be provided by the third party to the provider.

A provider can similarly subscribe to a third party shopping-cart inorder to provide standardized electronic commerce functionality(purchases, product information, returns, and the like) for theend-users of the provider's service. However, in addition to lackingthose elements described above, shopping-cart interactive operationsprovided by third party systems do not provide for interactive,customizable non-purchase content and statistics, individual end-userinformation for interactive content. Such existing systems fail toprovide cross-correlated content, demographic information, sweepstakescorrelated to end-user selections, and end-user voting on media content,purchase items, and the like wherein the voting can be correlated tomarketing, sweepstakes, and demographic information.

Similarly, a number of companies have attempted to provide a centrallocation for content providers, such as new artists, to distribute theircontent via a global telecommunications network such as the Internet.But these companies do not typically provide access to industryprofessionals at all, nor do these companies provide much assistance toconsumer users or fans or enlist their services to gather usefulfeedback. To the extent current companies rank content by popularity(based on, for example, the number of votes, number of downloads, ornumber of web-site “hits”), these rankings are subject toballot-stuffing and voting by a non-representative set of listeners.Furthermore, Internet content distribution sites often feature the musicof so many artists that only a few can receive a significant share ofthe attention. For example, at one point Mp3.com, an Internet contentdistribution site focusing on music, hosted over 500,000 songs and80,000 artists in its database. Thus, very few songs or artists could befeatured or popularized.

In addition, ranking content popularity by the number of downloads orstreams selected off a site is ineffective as it is easy to inflate aranking if the same person performs multiple downloads using availablesoftware. This problem is aggravated by the fact that, once such anartificially ranked song attains a high ranking, it is likely to bedownloaded or streamed by future visitors, who prolong the effect of theartificially high ranking. As a result, consumer end-users cannot findthe best content and express their opinion in an effective manner,industry experts cannot find the best producers of content fordevelopment, and producers of content do not have an efficient means formarketing, distributing and receiving feedback on their works fromexperts, other content producers, and end-users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

What is needed is a system which provides interactive contests, rankingsand distribution of content for any number of content producers, serviceproviders, consumer end-users and/or industry experts. In particular,there is a need for a system including multiple multi-level contests forany number of end-users and any number of content providers, allowing,among other features, a content producer to submit content for thecontest, industry experts to review content and seek out top content,and end-users to rank, vote for, and seek out the content.

In one embodiment of the present invention a third party interactivecontest server (“TPICS”) is provided with customizable and interactivecontest operations. The provider has wide ranging control over the formof the content review or contest system, media content for thecontestants or reviewers, the information gathered from the contest orreviewers, and the scope of end-users allowed access to the contest orreviewing process. Producers can submit content to the system, end-userscan vote for content in multi-level contests, and industry experts canrank content or vote for content.

One embodiment of the present invention allows a content provider toregister with a TPICS system, and then use the TPICS system to develop acontest or other interactive operation. Once the contest has beencreated, the TPICS system gives the provider code to couple thenewly-created TPICS contest with the provider's pre-existing service(such as an existing web site, interactive television system, kiosk,game console, online promotion, set-top box, and the like). The provideradds or integrates this code with the existing service. As a result,end-users of the provider's service have access to the newly-createdTPICS contest through the provider. The end-users participate in theTPICS contest through the provider, and the TPICS contest can appearintegrated with the provider's service. The TPICS contest is typicallylocated at the TPICS system, but can also be located at the provider'sservice.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a TPICS systemaccessible to any number of providers. The TPICS system is linked to theprovider's service via any type of code over a closed, local, wide area,or global network. The TPICS provides any number of contests, where thecontests can be run independently and simultaneously by one or morecontent providers. A contest can allow content providers to submitcontent for expert review, filtering and possible inclusion in acontest, or a contest can use pre-selected content chosen by the creatorof the contest. The TPICS system can be adapted to other interactiveoperations besides contests, and is particularly suited for onlinepromotions of media content.

In one embodiment, the present invention is a TPICS system comprising:(1) a computer readable storage, (2) expert information includinginformation identifying experts and an expert selection criterion (suchas expert genre), the expert information stored in the computer readablestorage, (3) voter information identifying voters, the voter informationstored in the computer readable storage; (4) a producer submissionmodule, the producer submission module responsive to a request to submitcontent to serve a content submission page prompting a producer forcontent information, the content submission module responsive to contentinformation received in response to the prompting to store in thecomputer readable storage at least part of the content information; (5)an expert review module, the expert review module responsive to thereceipt of the content information to notify a set of the experts thatcontent is available for expert review, the expert review moduleselecting each of the set of experts by scanning the content information(such as a content genre) and using the expert selection criterion (suchas an expert genre), the expert review module responsive to a reviewrequest from an expert to serve a content review page prompting anexpert for review information, the expert review module responsive toreview information received in response to the prompting for reviewinformation to store in the computer readable storage at least part ofthe review information, the stored review information including rankingdata representing a ranking of a content (such as an aspect score); (6)a filtering module responsive to a satisfaction of a filtering thresholdto access stored review information and to select a set of top scoringcontent by scanning ranking data in the review information and selectingeach content work having corresponding ranking data satisfying aselection algorithm, the filtering module adding each of the selectedtop scoring content work to a contest pool; and (7) a contest moduleresponsive to a satisfaction of a contest period threshold to serve toeach of a set of voters identified by the voter information a contestpage presenting a visual representation of at least a pair of contentworks from the contest pool and to prompt each of the set of voters tovote for at least one of the visually represented content works, thecontest module responsive to a satisfaction of a contest periodthreshold to select at least one winning content work from the contentin the contest pool by scanning votes received from the set of voters,the contest module responsive to requests to view the contest to serve acontest presentation page visually representing a current state of acontest.

TPICS provides a modularized set of contest serving, contest creation,contest management, database management, expert review, contentsubmission and administration code modules. The contest server moduleprovides formatted contest content to one or more selected providerservices in online contest or online promotions, through an apparatussuch as a web server, interactive television server, and the like,either directly, or indirectly through the provider service to theprovider's end-users, thus permitting end-users to play in theprovider's contests and interact with both TPICS content and providercontent. The contest creation module enables providers to create,format, and initialize customized contests employing any media andmultiple form designs. The contest management module permits providersand TPICS administrators to control future, ongoing, and completedcontest operations.

The database management module permits some combination of end-users,providers, and TPICS administrators to interact with interrelateddatabases including, for example, provider registration information,end-user registration information, provider contest information,end-user contest information, provider sweepstakes information, end-usersweepstakes information, provider marketing information, end-usermarketing information, provider commerce information, end-user commerceinformation, provider security information, end-user securityinformation, and the like. In one embodiment, the database managementmodule is a standard SQL server which serves as an interface between thenumerous databases and the contest server, allowing contest forms to becustomized and served to end-users.

In one embodiment, the expert review module provides a distributedexpert review system for detailed review of media content, where theexpert review can be provided directly to the producer of the content,or the expert review can be used to filter content for inclusion in amulti-stage contest. A content submission module provides for submissionof media content by third party content providers to a TPICS system. Anadministration module permits TPICS administrators to have control overthe scope, permissions, and general functionality of a TPICS system.

One embodiment comprises a contest management module provides serviceproviders and TPICS administrators with interfaces to control future,ongoing, and completed contest parameters, end-users, and content; adatabase management module which provides providers and TPICSadministrators to perform general database management functions forinterrelated databases including, for example, provider registrationinformation, end-user registration information, provider contestinformation, end-user contest information, provider sweepstakesinformation, end-user sweepstakes information, provider marketinginformation, end-user marketing information, provider commerceinformation, end-user commerce information, provider securityinformation, end-user security information, digital rights managementinformation, content information, and the like; an administrationmodule, which provides TPICS administrators with an interface to managethe scope, permissions, and general functionality of a TPICS system;and, a modular contest server which can use both internal TPICSdatabases and external databases provided over a network for TPICSoperations

In another embodiment of the invention, a third party interactivecontest server comprises: (1) a computer readable storage, (2) amicroprocessor, (3) a contest server module comprising instructionsexecutable by the microprocessor, (4) a first contest including firstcontest data stored in the computer readable storage, the first contestdata representing first and second sets of works, the contest servermodule responsive to a first set of votes to identify a first selectedwork from the first set of works, the contest server module responsiveto a second set of votes to identify a second selected work from thesecond set of works, the first and second sets of votes received withina predetermined time, and (5) a second contest including second contestdata stored in the computer readable storage, the second contest datarepresenting a third set of works including the first selected work andthe second selected work, the contest server module responsive to athird set of votes to identify one of the third set of works.

One aspect of the invention includes a virtual expert review system andmarketing machine, comprising: an expert review module, the expertreview module accessible by an expert over a network, the expertselected based on expert information associated with the expert, theexpert review module providing at least one selected work to the expertfor expert review based on a correlation between work informationassociated with the work and expert information, the expert reviewmodule receiving an expert review of the selected work including atleast one aspect score, and the expert review module associating theexpert review with the selected work.

Another aspect of the invention includes a contest server comprising acontest including at least two contest rounds of at least two contestrooms, each contest room including at least two content works, thecontest server serving the contest to a voter, the contest serverreceiving at least one vote from the voter for at least one content workin at least one content round.

In another embodiment of the invention, a contest method comprises (1)submitting first, second, third and fourth works for representation in acontest, (2) automatically generating representations of first andsecond contests, the first contest representing the first and secondworks, and the second contest representing the third and fourth works,the first and second contests substantially of the same duration andsubstantially coterminous, (3) receiving one or more votes for the firstwork in the first contest, (4) receiving one or more votes for the thirdwork in the second contest, (5) automatically generating a third contestrepresenting the first work and the third work, (6) receiving one ormore votes for the first work in the third contest, and (7)automatically selecting the first work as a winning work.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary overview of an architecture for a TPICSsystem;

FIG. 2 shows an overview of system connectivity for one embodiment of aTPICS system;

FIG. 3 represents a generalized overview of phases provided in oneembodiment of a TPICS system;

FIG. 4 shows an overview of one implementation of connections to a TPICSsystem;

FIGS. 5A and 5B is a flow chart illustrating a representation of pathsfor content through an embodiment of a TPICS system;

FIG. 6 illustrates a representation of the flow of content works throughan embodiment of TPICS;

FIG. 7 illustrates processes of one embodiment of a contest;

FIG. 8 represents one embodiment of web-based connections in a TPICSsystem;

FIG. 9 represents an illustration of the movement of content throughTPICS including an Industry Review Board (IRB) content review;

FIG. 10 illustrates a representation of the movement of submittedcontent through the general contest pool (GCP) in one embodiment ofTPICS;

FIG. 11 represents an example, at week zero, of an embodiment of TPICSwherein a set of content has been reviewed and has entered the generalcontest pool;

FIG. 12 represents the embodiment of TPICS as illustrated in FIG. 11 ata time three weeks later;

FIG. 13 represents the embodiment of TPICS as illustrated in FIG. 11 ata time four weeks later;

FIG. 14 represents the embodiment of TPICS as illustrated in FIG. 11 ata time seven weeks later;

FIG. 15 represents acts performed by an a producer using one embodimentof TPICS to submit a song;

FIG. 16 shows an overview of one embodiment of a contest template form;

FIG. 17 shows an overview of one embodiment of a contest room;

FIG. 18 shows an overview of one embodiment of a contestant detail form;

FIG. 19 shows one embodiment of a voting history form;

FIG. 20 shows one embodiment of a sweepstakes history form;

FIG. 21 shows one embodiment of a profile form;

FIG. 22 shows one embodiment of a list of available contests;

FIG. 23 shows one embodiment of a referral form;

FIG. 24 shows one embodiment of a content submission form;

FIG. 25 shows one embodiment of an expert review form;

FIG. 26 shows one embodiment of a contest creation form;

FIG. 27 shows one embodiment of a contest format form;

FIG. 28 shows one embodiment of a contest creation form for providerselected content; and,

FIG. 29 shows one embodiment of a contest options form.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

System Architecture

Aspects of the present invention may be embodied in a third partycontest server or TPICS. FIG. 1 shows an overview of one exemplaryarchitecture for a TPICS system 100. The TPICS system providesinteractive operations to one or more providers 110, where end-users 120use the providers' 110 services including the interactive operations.The TPICS system is maintained by an administrator 130, optionallythrough an administrative network 150.

The TPICS system 100 and its components and modules are accessible via anetwork 140 such as, for example, a local intranet, a phone network, awireless network, a cable network, the Internet, and/or direct orindirect local physical connections, or a combination of any of these.The administrative network 150 can be a subset of the general network140, a separate network, or a VPN (Virtual Private Network). FIG. 2shows an overview of system connectivity for one embodiment of a TPICSsystem.

Turing again to FIG. 1, a provider 110 is generally any entity thatprovides network services, a producer 160 is any entity providingcontent of any type, an administrator 130 is an entity which maintainsor controls aspects of contests and/or TPICS, an expert 170 is an entityproviding reviews of content, and an end-user 120 is an entity usingTPICS, for example, to review, rank or vote on content.

A provider 110 accesses the TPICS system 100 through the network 140. Anend-user 120 accesses the provider 110 and TPICS system 100 by directconnection, by network 140, or by another network (not shown). Forexample, the end-user 120 in one embodiment reaches the provider 110through a cable network, and the provider 110 then links through thenetwork 140 to the TPICS system.

In one embodiment, a producer 160 of content and expert reviewer 170 ofcontent also access a TPICS system in a similar manner. It is foreseenthat any combination of one or more different network types can be usedto connect a TPICS system 100, provider 110, end-user 120, administrator130, producer 160, and/or expert 170.

A TPICS system 100 typically includes: a contest server module 200,which serves one or more contests 210 to end-users 120 over the network140, a contest creation module 220 which assists in the development ofcontest forms, and contest management module 230 which controls contestoptions. One embodiment includes a producer submission module 235 forsubmission of content, and an expert review module 290 for review,ranking and filtering of content.

The TPICS system 100, in one embodiment, is a web-based interactivecontest system which provides TPICS system 100 functions to numerousweb-content producers: the TPICS system 100 includes a TPICS contestserver 200 which serves contests 210 for third party providers 110, suchas, for example, provider web sites or provider interactive televisionservers. TPICS end-users 120, in this embodiment, then access the TPICSserver 200 either directly, through a URL of the TPICS server, orthrough the provider 110 which links the end-user to the TPICS contest210 through code such as a URL, XML, or framed content, and the like.Content and information is transferred from TPICS to users via a “page”or a “form,” which in one embodiment consists of a dynamically createdcombination of one or more HTML elements, database information retrievedvia structured query language, and/or pre-formatted TPICS materials suchas graphic images, text and style sheets (CSS), created by the contestserver and served to TPICS users over the network. The “page” or “form”may use any other communications format, including interactivetelevision formats and other network useable markup languages, whichwould allow transfer of pre-formatted and dynamically created “form”materials between the server and TPICS users.

Development of interactive operations such as contests and reviewstypically occurs using well known development tools, such as, forexample, some combination of hypertext markup language (“HTML”)including uniform resource locators (“URLs”), Java®, JavaScript®,ActiveX®, CGI (common gateway interface), plug in software takingadvantage of a known application interface protocol (“API”), a markuplanguage variant such as XML, pre-existing or custom object modules orlibraries and the like (hereinafter “code”). Alternatively, a providercan use prepackaged code (i.e., an “e-commerce server in a box,” forexample) to implement particular interactive operations on theprovider's service.

In addition, the embodiment a TPICS system 100 can advantageouslyinclude one or more of a database management module 240, digital rightsmanagement module 250, an advertising module 260, an electronic commercemodule 270, and a system administration module 280. As used herein, theterm module refers to logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to acollection of software instructions, possibly having entry and exitpoints, written in a programming language, such as, for example, C++. Asoftware module may be compiled and linked into an executable program,or installed in a dynamic link library, or may be written in aninterpretive language such as BASIC. It will be appreciated thatsoftware modules may be callable from other modules, and/or may beinvoked in response to detected events or interrupts. Softwareinstructions may be embedded in firmware, such as an EPROM. It will befurther appreciated that hardware modules may be comprised of connectedlogic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and/or may be comprised ofprogrammable units, such as programmable gate arrays. The modulesdescribed herein are preferably implemented as software modules, butcould be represented in hardware or firmware.

In one embodiment, each module is provided as a modular code object,where the code objects typically interact through a set of standardizedfunction calls. In one embodiment, the code objects are written in asuitable software language such as C++, but the code objects can bewritten in any low level or high level language so long as the languagepermits the code objects to interact efficiently enough to provide atleast one contest 210 to at least one provider 110. In one embodiment,the code modules are implemented in C++ and compiled on a computerrunning a content server, such as, for example, Microsoft® IIS or Linux®Apache. In one embodiment, Microsoft IIS is preferred, where the contestserver 200 interfaces with various contest forms through a standard SQL(structured query language, a standard language for getting, sending andchanging information in databases) server represented by the databasemanagement module 240. Alternatively, the code modules can be compiledwith their own front end on a kiosk, or can be compiled on a cluster ofserver machines serving interactive television content through a cable,packet, telephone, satellite, or other telecommunications network.Artisans of skill in the art will recognize that any number ofimplementations, including code implementations directly to hardware,are also possible.

Contest Server

The contest server module 200 serves formatted contests 210 to one ormore selected providers 110 and permits end-users 120 to play incontests 210 and interact with both TPICS content and provider content.A contest server can be placed on any microprocessor based system with acomputer readable storage and a network interface, such as a web server,in one embodiment a Pentium-class based computer running web serversoftware on a network. The contest server module 200, for example,determines what provider 110 is requesting a particular TPICS contest210, determines what end-user 120 is accessing the contest 210, acquiresthe appropriate provider 110 data (including contest form data, contestmedia data, and contest customization data) from the provider database300, acquires the appropriate end-user data (including end-user optionsdata, end-user contest data, and end-user identification) from theend-user database 310, and the like. The contest server module 200combines the database elements and form elements using, for example, adynamic web page generation component of a web server or a real timeinteractive television component. Media elements can be stored at theprovider 110, with the end-user 120 (in a direct or peer-to-peer form),at the TPICS system 100, or in an internal or external media/contentdatabase 320, where the external database is accessible over a networkand can contain digital rights management features 250.

In one embodiment, an expert review module 290 allows pre-selectedexperts 170 to review content submitted by content producers 160.Information related to the content producers is stored in an internal orexternal producer database 330, and information related to experts isstored in an internal or external expert database 340. The expert reviewmodule is described in more detail in FIGS. 4 and 5 below, Other contentelements used by the contest server 200 can be stored, for example, inan internal or external other database 260.

The resulting contest 210 is then transmitted as a completed contestform, via a network, to the end-user 120 (or in one embodiment, anexpert or producer participating in contest voting as well). Thetransmission can be directly to the end-user 120 from the contest servermodule 200, can be indirect from the contest server module 200 to theprovider 110, and then to the end-user 120, or can be indirect through athird party such as a third party software provider, internet serviceprovider, cable provider, broadcast provider, online promotions site,and the like (not shown). The end user, along with producers and expertswho participate in the contest, are voters in the contest.

It is foreseen that any combination of provider data, end-user data,contest data and media data can be combined to create contests 210, solong as some unique identification of the contest 210 to be provided,the provider 110 associated with the contest 210, and the media to beassociated with the contest 210 is known to TPICS 100.

The TPICS contest server module 200 serves any number of contestelements. These elements include graphics, text, page formatting,audio-visual works such as, for example, movies, music or any otheraccessible media content, and at a minimum include an option menu, text,and at least one contest form.

Contest Creation

A contest creation module 220 provides an interface to providers 110 forcreation, formatting, payment and initialization of customized contests210 employing any media and multiple form designs. A provider 110 usesthe interface form provided by the contest creation module 220 toprovide sufficient information to TPICS 100 for TPICS to provide acontest 210 to the provider 110. For example, in one embodiment, aperson accesses TPICS 100 through the contest server 200 and registersas a provider 110 of the TPICS system 100. Then, the provider 110accesses the contest creation module 220 through a TPICS option menusuch as, for example, a hyperlink, text command, button, and the like.The contest creation module 220 can include provider formatting options,such as a choice of contest templates, fonts, colors, graphics, text,and the like, or in one embodiment a choice of the provider's own code(such as, for example, custom style sheets (“CSS”) or extensible markuplanguage (“XML”) which provides a completely customizable format inwhich to place TPICS contest elements. The contest creation module, forexample, provides a contest creation form, through the contest server,to the provider, where the provider submits customization andconfiguration information to queries in the form. The form is thensubmitted back to the contest creation module through the contestserver. An example embodiment of a resulting contest form is shown belowin FIG. 16. Contest creation can be accomplished using standardselection boxes or other input methods available in HTML served to thecontest creator for various options, through submission of XML or CSScode by the contest creator, through contest creator selection of a fewpre-selected contest formats, and the like.

The contest creation module 220 can also permit the provider 110 tochoose the form of a contest 210, including the type of contest 210.Types of contests include, but are not limited to, multi-round contestswhere each round features one or more pools of contestants in individualelimination contests, survivor contests where each round features aplurality of contestants and where in each round the highest vote-getteris eliminated from competition, traditional voting in one round wherethe highest vote-getter in one round wins the that contest round, orparliamentary voting, where each end-user has one or more votes or oneor more weighted preferences to give to a plurality of contestants (i.e.an end-user has five votes to distribute in any way among tencontestants, or an end-user can select his preferences in a group of tencontestants by placing them in preference order, for example). Anynumber of alternative contest voting schemes can be provided, and theabove mentioned voting schemes can be implemented as part of an onlinepromotion of media content.

In one embodiment, the provider 110 can provide authentication ofidentity, or authentication of the provider 110 to be associated withthe contest 210. In one embodiment, the provider can provide electronicbilling information through an electronic commerce server 270 to pay forTPICS system 100 access, TPICS contests 210, and, for example, for aprovider-run TPICS sweepstakes. The provider (or, alternatively, in oneembodiment the TPICS administrator 130) can set a starting time for thecontest 210, the length of the entire contest 210, the length ofindividual contest rounds, and, in one embodiment, time windows forend-users to vote in the contest 210.

Through a provider administration tool (“PAT”) 440, the provider canregister as a TPICS provider 110 and create TPICS contests 210. Aprovider 110 can create more than one contest 210. Multiple providers110 can use a TPICS server 200 at the same time, and create multiplecontests 210 through individual PATs 440.

The provider 110 can also submit the media to be the subject matter ofthe contest 210. The media can be any content accessible to the end-user120, including, for example, audio files, video files, text, web pages,broadcasts, products, services, software, code and the like. Theprovider 110 can directly submit the media to TPICS 100 for marketresearch or an online promotion of the media content, or, in oneembodiment, the provider can submit code, such as, for example a URL orother reference to material hosted on the provider 110 or with a thirdparty media database 320. In one embodiment, TPICS data can be stored inan internal or external other database 350.

Contest Management

A contest management module 230 provides providers 110 and TPICSadministrators 130 with interfaces to control future, ongoing, andcompleted contest parameters, end-users, and media content. The contestmanagement module 230 permits a registered provider 110 to accesscontests 210 the provider 110 has created on the TPICS system 100. Foreach contest 210 the provider 110 has created, the provider 110 canedit, add, modify or delete individual contest elements or entirecontests 210. Depending on TPICS system 100 parameters, the ability of aprovider 110 to modify contest elements once a contest 210 has begun canbe limited, in order to protect end-users 120 who have already voted andin order to prevent contest fraud. Before the contest 210 begins, mostor all contest parameters and customizations can be modified by theprovider 110. After the contest 210 begins, the provider 110 can, in oneembodiment, at least delete the entire contest 210 and can add, modify,or delete limited contest parameters which do not effect the outcome ofthe contest 210. In one embodiment, the provider 110 can deletecontestants after a contest 210 has begun if contestants violatecopyright laws, attempt to rig the contest, or if contestant media orlinks do not function properly. It is foreseen that any combination offeatures can be available to a provider 110 before, during and after thecontest 210, depending on the needs of an individual TPICS system 100.In addition, the TPICS administrator 130 can access all contests 210through the system administration module 280 to perform administrativetasks and deal with unforeseen events such as, for example, contestantmedia failure (i.e. the provider has provided an incorrect URL resultingin no media for a contestant), contestant copyright infringement (i.e.the provider has provided a link to a work without copyrightpermission), improper contestant content (i.e. the content violatesterms of use or is otherwise inappropriate for the particular TPICSsystem 100), the provider is creating substantial burden on the TPICSsystem 100, and the like.

In one embodiment, the provider includes digital rights managementinformation to ensure the media content can be provided to onlyauthorized end-users 120. This digital rights management information andcontrols can be handled by external or internal digital rightsmanagement modules 250 to prevent unwarranted content distribution, suchas those provided by Microsoft Corp. or InterTrust Corp.

Database Management

A database management module 240 provides providers 110 and TPICSadministrators 130 general database management functions forinterrelated databases including, for example, provider registrationinformation, end-user registration information, provider contestinformation, end-user contest information, provider sweepstakesinformation, end-user sweepstakes information, provider marketinginformation, end-user marketing information, provider commerceinformation, end-user commerce information, provider securityinformation, end-user security information, digital rights managementinformation, content information, and the like. In one embodiment, allprovider information is kept in a provider database 300. Similarly, theuser information can be kept in an end-user database 310. A TPICS system100 does not require all of these databases to function, and this listis provided only by way of example. The database management module, forexample, can be an integral part of the contest server module 200.

Database categories above can be combined, further divided orcross-correlated, and any combination of databases 300, 310, 320, 330,340, 350, and the like can be provided from within TPICS 100. In oneembodiment, any portion of the databases can be provided externally fromTPICS, either locally on the TPICS computer, or remotely over a network.The external data from an external database can be provided in anystandardized form which TPICS can understand. For example, an externaldatabase at a provider 110 can advantageously provide end-user data inresponse to requests from TPICS in a standard format, such as, forexample, name, user identification, and computer identification number,and the like, and the end-user data blocks are transformed by thedatabase management module 240 into a function call format which theTPICS code modules can understand. Typically, the database managementmodule is a standard SQL server, where dynamic requests from the contestserver build forms from the various databases used by TPICS as well aspre-selected contest forms.

TPICS, for example, can function with only minimal information onend-users 120, providers 110, and contests 210. For example, end-userinformation can be stored that is sufficient to keep track of anend-user's voting history, such as an end-user identification numberstored at the end-user's location (for example, in one embodiment as a“cookie”, a personal identification number (“PIN”), or a public-privateend-user identification key pair, and the like,) can be stored as anexternal user database 310. Additionally, information on providerssufficient to correlate contest information with provider services canbe stored as an external or internal provider database 300. Contestinformation can be reduced to competitors such as, in one embodiment aURL to competitors' media content, for further example.

System Administration

A system administration module 280 provides TPICS administrators 130with an interface to manage the scope, permissions, and generalfunctionality of a TPICS system 100. Thus, the TPICS administrator 130can control electronic commerce functionality, terms of use, contesttypes, contest availability, the flexibility of contest customizations,as well as all options available to an end-user 120 or a provider 110.

FIG. 3 represents a generalized overview of phases provided in oneembodiment of a TPICS system. The first phase is the submission phase,in which a producer/creator 160 of a work submits a work to a producersubmission module 235 of TPICS. The producer submission module 235 thenautomatically forwards or makes available the work to an expert reviewmodule 290 in an expert review phase. In one embodiment, the expertreview module 290 provides completed expert reviews compiled by experts170 to the producer 160. In one embodiment, the expert review module 290collects reviewed work until a selected number of works have beenreviewed or until a selected period of time has passed.

In a submission filtering phase, a submission filtering module 740 usesan adjustable filter criteria, such as top review score, toautomatically select and forward to a contest server 200 certain of thesubmitted and reviewed works. In the marketing and contest phase, thecontest server 200 uses an adaptable consumer contest and marketingsystem to make the works available to consumer users 120 for voting,market research, distribution, and reviews. The marketing and contestphase typically uses the contest server 200 for these functions. Thesephases may be combined, adjusted, and adapted by an administrative user130 who may control the TPICS system through the administrative module280 (not shown).

User Connections

Users connect to TPICS, in one embodiment, by using any network enabledconnection. FIG. 4 shows an overview of one implementation ofconnections to a TPICS system. An access program 600 communicatesinformation to and from users using TPICS forms. However, those ofordinary skill will appreciate that users may connect to computer-basedsystems in a variety of ways. For example, the network-enabledconnection 610 may use an access program 600 such as a specializedcomputer application, a standard web browser, a terminal or console textor graphics window, database entry, or communications with an externalprogram such as a database which automatically submits information toTPICS 100 based on external criteria.

For an expert 170, producer 160, or user 120, user identification is viasome combination of passwords, encryption, metric, and/or a persistentclient-side data, i.e. a cookie. Similarly, an administrative user 130is represented via any combination of usernames, passwords, a clientside cookie, or some sort of encryption regime.

FIG. 4 also illustrates an external user database 400, including a MyPicks table 410 which holds data representing users' correct andincorrect votes, a My Sweepstakes table 420 which holds datarepresenting users' sweepstakes entries and other types of credits(discussed in detail below), an Advertising table 430 which holds datarepresenting user demographics or third-party advertising information,and other user information such as a unique user identification. Thoseof ordinary skill will appreciate that the external user database 400 isaccessible over a network 140, and will also appreciate that an internaldatabase may be used any may be accessible by direct physical (or other)connection.

First Example Embodiment of the Present Invention

TPICS allows producers, who are owners of any type of work, (i.e.content) such as but not limited to music, scripts, photographs, movies,recipes, short audio-visual clips, software, or other creative works, aphysical product such as but not limited to a food, a drink, anelectronic device, a toy, and so on, or a service such as but notlimited to employee reviews, software engineering, professionalservices, etc., to submit their work or service on-line to be rated,ranked and/or reviewed by experts, consumers, fans, peers and/or by atleast one accredited member of the related industry, company, or fieldof expertise.

TPICS automatically routes and/or makes available submissions toindustry expert reviewers, who are, in one embodiment, pre-identified,pre-registered and qualified industry, company or field experts. Theseindustry expert reviewers register with TPICS to review and scoresubmitted works, and to provide their reviews and scores back to TPICS.In one embodiment, the submitting artist or the producer receives thereview or reviews once completed. The works submitted and reviewed arethen automatically forwarded by TPICS into a general contest pool (GCP).

TPICS automatically calculates the total expert review scores of workssubmitted and, in one embodiment, filters top-scoring works from the GCPand automatically forwards those top-scoring works into a contest phase.In one embodiment, the contest phase comprises at least one or moresneak peek pools and/or at least one or more contest stages ofelimination. The contest period is typically one week but may be anytime or numerical period, or could be based on a pre-determined butadjustable number of works submitted, reviewed, and forwarded to theGCP.

In one embodiment, once the top-scoring submitted works are entered intothe contest phase, the top-scoring works are advantageously forwarded toa sneak peek pool in which any combination of consumer users, producerusers, and/or expert users can be given privilege to preview workssubmitted. For example, the sneak peek pools can be limited to onlyexpert users. The expert users then have an early opportunity toidentify new artists and producers whose works may be deserving ofpromotion and/or investment.

The works, after some one or more contest periods in the sneak peekpools, are then automatically forwarded, in one embodiment, to anelimination contest. In the elimination contest, consumer users (such asbut not limited to members of the general public who have registeredwith TPICS, members of a target demographic group, or members of aspecific group such as, for example, employees of a company), and/oraccredited experts of the related industry vote for the submitted worksin the contest. TPICS is capable of allowing different weight factors tobe assigned to the votes from experts and consumer users.Advantageously, any combination of producers, experts and consumer userscan be given access to voting in the contest, by the administrativeuser, and the weight of producer votes, expert votes, and consumer votesis adjustable. Also advantageously, non-registered users (i.e., thegeneral public) can view the contest at any stage and thus gain thebenefit of the experts' reviews and the voters' preferences and learnwhich works or products are being ranked higher than others.

The elimination contest, in one embodiment, includes one or more roundsof elimination voting between works submitted. Winning works for eachround are determined by TPICS, in one embodiment, through, for example,selection of a pre-determined number of top-vote getters in each round,or through binary elimination style votes between works in each round.

If a work, in the contest phase, receives more votes than othercompeting works, and/or the work survives all elimination rounds, thenthe work is declared the winner. TPICS, in one embodiment, places thewinning work in a highly publicized position on web pages served tousers, provides a simple means of distributing the work, and/or providesaccess to industry experts to assist in further distribution of thework. In one embodiment, the producer of the winning work receives anaward, receives credit towards electronic commerce transactions, andreceives substantial advertising and promotion. This promotion can bethrough content served web pages, electronic mail, banner ad promotion,links to works or content, or access to industry experts.

Additionally, in one embodiment, as consumer users, producers, and/orexperts vote in the contest or participate in other activities such asreferrals, TPICS automatically awards them points for periodicsweepstakes. TPICS thus tracks all votes cast by users and automaticallycompares user votes with the actual outcome of contests to determine“correct votes” or “incorrect votes” cast by users. For example, aconsumer user in one embodiment earns points for voting in the contestphase, earns more points for voting correctly in the contest phase, andearns more points for correctly guessing the winning work. For anotherexample, a producer earns points for referring new producers to TPICS.The points can be used towards consumer sweepstakes entries, or, in oneembodiment, points from referrals to TPICS are treated as credits, wherethe credits provide access to TPICS functionality, such as, for example,producer access to work submissions where accumulated credits replace asubmission fee.

TPICS operates over a network, such as a global telecommunicationsnetwork (e.g., the Internet), a local intranet, a private carrier, or acommon carrier, or any combination thereof, and generally comprises acentral computer program which controls a producer database, an expertdatabase and a consumer user database. The producer database contains atleast one of but not limited to producer contact information forproducers registered with TPICS, work information, work category, thework or service submitted by such producer users, producer contestinformation, and accounting information. The expert database contains atleast one of but not limited to information on expert users of TPICS,their category and specialty, expert works information, and accountinginformation. The consumer user database contains at least one of but notlimited to information on consumer users registered with TPICS, consumercontest information, information on categories of interest, andaccounting information. Each database may contain additional informationas well, depending on the embodiment and use of TPICS. It is foreseenthat the information necessary to run TPICS from the producer, expert,and consumer databases may be combined into any number of TPICS databaseother than three, and the description of three databases rather than adifferent number is merely for clarity.

Users such as producers, experts, administrators, and consumer usersinteract with TPICS through any network-enabled connection to theInternet, in one embodiment a computer with a web browser and aconnection to the Internet. In another embodiment, for example, theconnection is through a network-accessible device using a standardnetwork protocol.

Users initially register with TPICS through this network-enabledconnection, and the identity of a particular user can be maintainedthrough any means of identification, such as any combination ofusernames, passwords, metrics, or a client side persistent identifiersuch as a cookie. In one embodiment, through any web browser, users sendand receive commands via a web server connected to the control softwareand TPICS databases described above. The web server in this embodimentalso serves and receives works requested through the return of web-pagescontaining works from and for the TPICS databases. For example,information to be placed in the producer, expert or consumer database isgathered from TPICS-web pages after user input. Other web pagesdynamically constructed by TPICS will include information extracted fromthe producer, expert or consumer databases. In an alternativeembodiment, communication between TPICS and a network is accomplishedusing a standard network server, a daemon, a socket, or other standardnetwork connection.

Advantageously, TPICS supports and connects intra-industry businesspaths. For example, in the music industry TPICS supports (1) B-B(Business to Business): For an annual fee, other businesses in the musicindustry may access a music-oriented sneak peek pool areas, describedabove, to discover and sign quality-screened talent before the rest ofthe world discovers them; (2) B-C (Business to Customer): TPICS canprovide expert review services to the public for a fee; (3) C-C(Customer to Customer): Through TPICS, quality artists may promote andsell their products (songs) to the public; and (4) C-B (Customer toBusiness): Through TPICS, artists can present and market their products(songs) to the industry for purchase or licensing.

TPICS, in one embodiment, includes a payment system such as anelectronic wallet or electronic commerce server to provide monetarytransactions between TPICS and users, or between users themselves. Thepayment system is capable of being automated by the TPICS controlsoftware or controlled directly by users. TPICS also optionally includesa content or works access control system, to limit distribution of worksbeyond TPICS, through, for example, encryption of works or watermarkingof works.

TPICS provides automated administration of: (1) various aspects ofcontests (number of entrants or elimination rounds, period of voting,length of time users preview works before the general public, amount ofworks available to users, the public or to some selected group ofindustry experts), (2) entry points in contests, (3) expert reviewerpayments, (4) producer submission fees, (5) general accounting, and (6)categories that make up the reviews and works genres. This isaccomplished through an administrative user who, at a network-enabledconnection to the Internet, and once authenticated as an administrator,sends commands to and receives commands from TPICS through the webserver.

TPICS is quite generic and flexible and lends itself to many uses in avariety of industries. In one embodiment a TPICS database managementapplication permits a TPICS administrator to interact with variousdatabase tables to, for example, browse the existing records in any ofthe tables, enter new data and create new records in any of the tables,modify data in any existing record in any table, and also delete anyrecord data in any of the tables. Such database management applicationsare common and supported by existing database applications such as, forexample, Microsoft Access, Oracle, Sybase and FoxBase. Those and otherdatabase applications provide extensive database management applicationdesign tools, simplifying the design of database managementapplications, and those of ordinary skill understand well how to use thedesign tools to construct and operate such database managementapplications. Thus, the present invention is not limited by a particulardatabase management application.

In one embodiment, the TPICS database management application permits aTPICS administrator to adjust parameters. Such adjustment may beperformed on individual records and on entire contests.

Using TPICS, work submissions (e.g. music demos) can be categorized(given genres) in an unlimited number of categories (e.g. Jazz, Rock,Pop). Generally, a TPICS administrator establishes categories, such as,for example, music, fashion, literature and also establishes respectivesubcategories such as, for example, jazz, rock and pop, or shirts, shoesand pants, or novels, screenplays or poetry. In one embodiment, a TPICSadministrator populates a submission category table and a submissionsubcategory table related by a category field. Those of ordinary skillwill appreciate that any relational database system permits such tablesand relationships, and further will appreciate that the category andsubcategory information may be retrieved by query language statementssuch as those that may be formed from structured query language (SQL).It will further be appreciated that Web pages may be constructeddynamically including content information retrieved from a database. Aweb server may access a template web page, including logic such as canbe formed with CGI scripts, or another scripting language, and mayexecute such scripts whenever it receives a request for the template webpage. The scripts may include queries to a database to retrieveinformation that is formatted and included in a web page ultimatelypresented to the requesting user. In one embodiment, a submissiontemplate web page includes script logic which queries submissioncategory and subcategory tables and which, using a returned record set,includes the submission category and subcategory data to construct asubmission web page presented to an artist or producer. The submissionweb page may thus include categories and subcategories which can beselected by the artist or producer in submitting the work.

Using the database management interface, the TPICS administrator hastotal control over the number of categories used to review the work(e.g., vocal, music, lyrics), the range of scores for each of the reviewcategories (e.g., 1 through 10, 1 through 100, etc.), the weight of eachreview category (e.g. more weight for music score than for productionscore, etc.).

Work submissions can be assigned unlimited numbers of other attributes(e.g. solo artist, a band with 5 members, a blond female vocalist, etc.)which, in a manner similar to that described in connection with categoryinformation may be determined by an administrator and selected by anartist or producer. Alternatively, the artist or producer may specifyattributes in an attribute text box included on the submission web page.The attributes selected or provided are received by the web server andextracted for storage in the database.

The size of the sneak peek area can be expanded, in one embodiment by anadministrator, to hold an unlimited number of work submissions. In oneembodiment, the size of a sneak peek area is determined by a sneak peeksize integer field in a sneak peek table in a database. One of ordinaryskill will appreciate that the sneak peek table may include a record foreach contest.

A TPICS administrator may also adjust the dimensions of any particularcontest, using the database management application. Thus, in oneembodiment, the TPICS administrator can shrink or expand a contesthorizontally (e.g., number of stages in the contest, Preliminary,Quarter-Final, etc.) and/or can shrink or expand a contest vertically(e.g., number of matches in any stage of the contest, thus 8 matches inthe Preliminary Round, 4 in the Quarter Final, etc.).

A TPICS administrator may also adjust the number of contestants in amatch (e.g. 2, 3, 10, 100), the voting period of all contest rounds(e.g., one month) or contest stages (e.g. one week), and the relativeweight of votes by industry and fan groups (e.g., 50%-50%, 40%-60%), thenumber of sweepstakes entries earned by users (e.g., 100 points forincorrect votes, 200 for correct votes, 150 points for correct voteswhen the total number of votes falls in a certain bracket with flexiblelower and upper numeric boundaries).

TPICS also provides flexibility in routing submitted work to appropriatevirtual staff. The routing can be done on category and/or subcategorybases, extracting, for example, physical or e-mail addresses fromindustry groups or other individuals associated with the category orsubcategories, and then sending e-mails to those identified that asubmission is available for review.

TPICS provides a submission phase and a review phase for automatingexpert review of any work or service over a network. TPICS also providesadditional phases of product filtering and consumer contests/markettesting. In one embodiment, a submission module handles functionsassociated with the submission phase, an expert review module handlesfunctions associated with the review phase, and filtering and contestmodules handle respectively, the functions associated with the filteringand consumer contests/market testing phases.

In the submission phase, a producer of a work submits the work to TPICSthrough any network-enabled connection. The producer submits the workand related information, in this embodiment, through fields in a dynamicTPICS web page. TPICS then automatically forwards the submitted work toan expert for review, and/or makes the submitted work available for anexpert to first select and then review. If TPICS selects the reviewingexperts, it does so based on selection criteria such as, for example,the category of the work, and then notifies the expert that work isavailable for review. Thus, in the review phase, the expert receivesnotification of the new work to review, in one embodiment through aTPICS web page accessible to the expert, or in another embodimentthrough an electronic mail message, voice mail message, or otherautomated notification.

The expert reviews the work, in one embodiment, through a TPICS web pagewhich includes a link to a copy of the work or service (if possible, orin one embodiment, a link to a commercially available version of thework or service), fields for review comments, and at least onequantitative or descriptive aspect score with a minimum and maximumvalue. In one embodiment, the expert review, once received by TPICS, isautomatically forwarded to the producer. This is accomplished, forexample, by electronic mail or other automatic notification, or througha dynamic TPICS web page accessible to the producer.

In one embodiment, the reviewed works then enter a filter phase, inwhich a selected number of works with the highest expert review scores(computed using any selection algorithm such as, for example, theaverage of all aspect scores) are selected for a contest phase. In oneembodiment, some selected number of reviewed works (including all ornone) enter a contest phase, in which some combination of consumerusers, experts and producers vote in one or more rounds of voting forwinning works. The number of rounds, weight of voting, useraccessibility to works in each round, and number of works in each roundcan be modified by an administrative user.

FIG. 5 (FIGS. 5A & 5B) is a flow chart illustrating a representation ofpaths for content submitted to one embodiment of TPICS, including a paththrough the producer submission module, expert review module, andcontest server.

Typically, to use the producer submission module 235, a producerselects, from a standard form, to submit content to TPICS. In oneembodiment, that module then performs a producer registration check 1340to determine whether the user is registered as a content producer. Ifnot, the user is registered as a producer 1345, and producer information1350 is collected for TPICS. The registered producer then logs in, andlogin is confirmed 1330. If login is repeatedly unsuccessful, then theprocess ends. Otherwise, upon login confirmation 1330, the producersubmission module 235 determines whether the producer has creditavailable for submission through a credit check 1370. Credit may befrom, for example, sweepstakes entries, prior winning content submitted,coupons permitting free content submission, or monetary payment. Ifthere is insufficient credit, the producer is forwarded to thee-commerce server 270 for payment, if payment is required in theparticular embodiment of TPICS.

The producer then decides whether to submit content in an optionalcontent submission query 1390, and, if so, then content submission 700takes place. Otherwise the process may end.

An example of the content data structure 705 containing the submittedcontent (or a link or reference to the submitted content hosted orstored by a third party) contains, for example, producer information1350 including a unique producer identifier, the content or contentlink, and content information including, for example, content genre. Theorder of operations in the producer submission module 235 is variable,and another example of such a module is shown in FIG. 15.

The content is then forwarded, in one embodiment, to an expert reviewmodule 290. (In other embodiment, the content can be forwarded straightto the contest server, for example, based on an expert review query660.) Alternatively, if the producer submission module is not used,provider selected content 715 can be submitted directly to the expertreview module 290, or can be submitted along with provider selectedcontent 715. The submitted content is sorted 710 by some identifyingcharacteristic in the content information, such as, for example, contentgenre. If expert review is selected 660 for the content submitted,expert selection 950 takes placed based, for example, based on genre.This is shown for one embodiment in FIG. 9. If expert review is notselected, the content is forwarded to the contest server 200 at apreview pool query 630.

If expert review is selected, then an expert is selected 950, typicallyby matching the genre of the content to the genre of expertise of theexpert, but also by other determinations including simply which expertsare available for review. The selected expert or experts then reviews720 the work. The resulting expert review data 725 may contain, forexample, some combination of producer information, the content or areference to the content, content information including the contentgenre, expert information, and the expert review itself. The completedexpert review 725 typically contains at least one aspect score 722, aquantitative ranking that can be used to compare various expert reviewsof various content. If TPICS is configured to optionally or always senda copy of the expert review to the content producer, a producer contentreview page 930 is forwarded the expert review for the content producer.

The reviewed works are then, in one embodiment, forwarded to a generalcontest pool (GCP) 730, where after a predetermined period of time thecontent in the GCP goes through a content filter 680 of the submissionfiltering module 740, which selects top submitted content to forward tothe contest server. (One embodiment of this filter is shown in FIG. 10.)Those of ordinary skill will appreciate that other filters such asrandom selection filters may be used, or no filter at all need be used.Content not selected to go on to the contest returns to the GCP for apre-determined number of passes 1120 through the filter, in oneembodiment, after which, if still not selected for the contest, thecontent is disposed of.

Content selected through the expert review module and/or providerselected content introduced without expert review 715 is forwarded tothe contest server. If TPICS is providing a preview pool 630, then thecontent is placed in a set of one or more sneak peek pools 910. Thecontent in the sneak peek pool is available for preview by a subset ofTPICS users, typically experts, for a pre-determined period of time.While in the sneak peek pool, experts using the sneak peek pool mayselect content for special consideration 724, at which time experts canuse producer information and content information to directly contact thecontent producer. When the preview pool period is over 635, or if thepreview pool is not selected for special consideration 724, TPICS movesthe content on to the contest. If no contest is selected 650 (such as,for example, if the TPICS system is being used solely for expert reviewof content pre-selected by the service provider) then the path for thecontent ends. If a contest is selected 650, the content is forwarded tothe actual contest 210. In the contest, (an example form of which isshown in more detail in FIGS. 11-14 and 16) some combination ofend-users, experts, and providers vote 1000 for content in individualcontest rooms (or stages) 980 and contest rounds 940, until winningcontent is selected 690. Typically, in each contest room (an example ofwhich is shown in FIG. 17) each voter (an end-user, producer, or expertauthorized to vote in the contest) votes for one or more of the contentdisplayed. There are typically multiple contest rooms in each conteststage. Some combination of the winning content from each contest room ina contest stage, in one embodiment, moves to the next contest round,until all but a pre-selected number of content works are excluded. Theone or more content works remaining are declared the winner of thecontest, and the content producer winning the contest may receive, forexample, credit within TPICS, certain contact information for interestedexperts, or a monetary prize. Optionally, the advertising module 260 maybe used to add advertising support to forms served from the contestserver containing one or more contests, and the digital rightsmanagement module 250 may be used to control distribution of contentfrom the contest server.

FIG. 6 illustrates a representation of the flow of content works throughan embodiment of TPICS. A producer 160 uses a submission process 700 tosubmit a work 770 and related information to TPICS. The work 770 is putthrough a sorting routine 710 based on category and/or other workinformation, and the work 770 is automatically forwarded to an expertreview module 290, where the work is typically made available to one ormore experts 170 for an expert review 720. The one or more expertreviews 720, when completed, are forwarded (in one embodiment) back tothe producer 160. In one embodiment, the expert review 720 contains atleast one aspect score 722 which rates an aspect of the work using somequantitative metric to judge a characteristic of the work such aslyrics, technique, quality of writing, spelling, creativity,punctuation, and the like. The reviewed work then enters a generalcontest pool (GCP) 730 of reviewed work. In the GCP 730, in oneembodiment, the reviewed works are put through a filter process 740 forthose meeting selection criteria, such as, for example, top-scoringreviews or low scoring reviews, based, in one embodiment, on relativeaspect scores 722 for compared works 770. In one embodiment, a selectednumber of reviewed works with a top score (e.g., the sixteen top-scoringworks) are forwarded to the contest server 200.

The expert review module 290, in one embodiment, implements themulti-stage format of the contest server for multi-level expert review.Thus, works reviewed move to later rounds of expert review based on avoting algorithm applied to expert review aspect scores rather thantraditional votes. In this manner, multi-tiered expert review of workscan be achieved with or without inclusion of a contest.

In one embodiment of the contest server 200, experts 170 and consumerusers 120 vote on works, through one or more rounds ofelimination—contest rounds—voting between top-scoring works. In oneembodiment, only experts 170 have access to submitted top-scoring worksfor some selected period, in a sneak peek pool 750. In one embodiment,consumer users 120 and experts 170 vote in a contest 210 on works, butconsumer user 120 and expert votes are weighed differently. TPICS alsosupports an embodiment wherein only a subset of consumer users 120,meeting certain demographic or information criteria, are given access toa work, and/or the ability to vote on a work. In one embodiment, TPICScollects market-related data 760 and forwards it to experts 170,providers 110 and/or producers 160. Market-related data 760 may include,for example, user vote histories, user purchase histories, advertisingdata, and/or user demographic data, and the like.

Applications of the First Example Embodiment

In one embodiment, TPICS is configured to review clothing fashions. Aproducer of clothing submits the work to TPICS through a submission webpage served by TPICS over the Internet. The submission includes, forexample, multiple pictures of the clothing, textual descriptions of theclothing, information on the producer, and in some embodiments asubmission fee. Optionally, physical embodiments of the clothing can besubmitted via mail and distributed to expert reviewers via a maildistribution system attached to TPICS via a simple mailing databaseincluded in the expert database. Based on the category of the clothing,or randomly among all fashion expert reviewers, the expert review moduleautomatically forwards the submitted work and related information to anynumber of expert reviewers (in one embodiment, three reviewers). Thethree reviewers provide standardized reviews of the work and relatedinformation, through dynamic review web pages served by TPICS to eachexpert reviewer. When each expert completes his or her respectivereview, the resulting review is automatically made available to theproducer via electronic mail or a dynamic web page accessible to theproducer.

In one embodiment, TPICS is configured to review wine or food. Thesubmission and review steps are substantially the same as thosedescribed above for clothing. However, in this embodiment, the itemsreviewed (e.g., wines) go into a filtering phase, in this embodiment ina general contest pool (GCP). After a predetermined period of time (acontest period, lasting, in one embodiment, one week), TPICSautomatically selects some number of those wines reviewed within the GCPwith the top review scores (in one embodiment the highest average of allaspect scores for all reviews of each wine submitted) and places thosewines in the contest phase. Wines remaining in the GCP are, in oneembodiment, kept in the GCP for some selected number of contest periods;if a wine is not selected as having a top review score within theselected number of contest periods, TPICS removes the wine from the GCP.In the contest phase, in one embodiment, wine consumer users and expertsvote on wines through dynamically created web pages. In each contestperiod, a selected number of wines with the top number of votes fromconsumer users and experts go on to the next round. After a selectednumber of rounds, one wine is selected as the winner. In an alternativeembodiment, expert and consumer votes are weighted differently, suchthat, for example, an expert vote counts as the equivalent of twoconsumer votes. In one alternative embodiment, TPICS is configured topresent the contest in an elimination fashion, such that consumer usersand experts vote between numerous competing pairs of wines in eachround, such that half of the wines in each round are eliminated and thewinners in each round go on to the next round in the next contestperiod.

In another embodiment, TPICS is configured to review manuscripts withina publishing house. A producer/author submits the work to TPICS by usinga web browser to fill in information on a submission web page. Thesubmission includes, for example, a summary of the work, the manuscript,information about the producer, and in some embodiments a submissionfee. Based on the category of the manuscript, or randomly among allliterary expert reviewers, the expert review module makes available thesubmitted manuscript and related information to any number of expertreviewers (in one embodiment, one reviewer) over the network. The expertreviewer provides a review of the work by filling in fields andproviding scoring information on a dynamic review web page served byTPICS to the expert, and the resulting review is automatically madeavailable to the producer via electronic mail or a dynamic web pageaccessible to the producer. All manuscripts reviewed within a certainperiod (in one embodiment, one month, or in an alternative embodiment,any time until fifty works have been reviewed) go into a GCP. From theGCP, some selected number of works with highest total review scores,based on a computation involving at least one aspect score from theexpert review (in one embodiment, the root mean square of all aspectscores for a manuscript reviewed, thus magnifying the effect of highscores received), are automatically placed in the contest phase. In oneembodiment, in the contest phase, the selected manuscripts are madeavailable to consumer users (in one embodiment, a selected larger groupof employees of the publishing house, or a marketing sample ofconsumers, or a selected larger group of literary reviewers), who voteon the manuscripts in the contest phase. After a few rounds ofelimination, some selected number of manuscripts with both top reviewscores and a high number of consumer votes are selected for publicationby the publishing house.

In still another embodiment, TPICS is configured to review employees ina company. When an employee's review is due, the employee, anadministrator or other personnel submit the employee's information,including, for example, a photograph, work record, sample work, andcomplaint history to TPICS through a console connection to TPICS runninga text-based data entry application. Alternatively, this information canbe automatically entered into TPICS from a pre-existing employeedatabase that submits the required information to TPICS through anyexisting network connection between the TPICS database and the employeedatabase. The employee information, once submitted, is automaticallyforwarded or made available (based on information in the employeerecords, at random, or based on category or department information) to asupervisor or one or more managers, who provides an expert review of theemployee, including in one embodiment, three aspect scores (for example,in one embodiment, work efficiency, accounts opened, and complaints,each on a 1 to 10 scale). In one embodiment, this expert review can, butneed not be forwarded to the employee or producer. Based on the expertreview, a selected number of top review scores are forwarded to a firstGCP for votes among experts (all administrators and supervisors) for adetermination of which employees will receive a commendation. In oneembodiment, this is the one or two highest ranked employees selectedfrom the first GCP in a single voting period among only experts. Thelowest scoring employees are forwarded to a second GCP for votes amongexperts (all administrators and supervisors) for a determination ofwhich employees will receive a reprimand. In one embodiment, allemployees reviewed are forwarded to a contest phase, in which consumers(all employees of the company) vote for employees. Each employee, in oneembodiment, is given five votes, over one voting period. Based on highand low vote getters, reviewed employees once again enter the first GCPor second GCP for votes among experts. The results may advantageouslyindicate which employees get along best with other employees.

In one embodiment of the present invention, TPICS is configured to offera Virtual Artist and Repertoire service (VAR) to artists (producers)such as musicians and industry experts (experts) such as music industryprofessionals. Artists (producers) and fans (consumer users) registerwith TPICS via the web server, and are provided access to some of theTPICS databases and web pages. An artist is one embodiment of aproducer, industry is one embodiment of an expert, and fans are oneembodiment of consumer users as described generally in connection withTPICS.

For a submission fee administrated by TPICS, an artist from anywhere inthe world submits content (such as music) to receive a confidentialExpert Industry Review (EIR) from a music industry professional on theIndustry Review Board (IRB). Once the artist has submitted the content,and the artist has identified the content's particular genre, TPICSautomatically makes the submission available to all industryprofessionals from the IRB with expertise in that genre, and the contentis forwarded to the first industry expert who requests to review thesubmission. The EIR includes at least one or more aspect scores, eachscore rating on a numerical and/or descriptive scale an aspect of thecontent submitted. The automated TPICS submission system thus guaranteesartists that all music content submitted will be heard in its entiretyand reviewed by a music industry professional in a consistent, standardmanner.

The artists who submit the best-reviewed content will also get exposureto potential buyers in the music industry through an artist andrepertoire “Sneak Peek” system providing certain industry experts withpreview access to high-ranked music, and through the contest. Theselection of best-reviewed content is accomplished through any number ofalgorithms, the simplest of which is a selected number N of artists withthe highest EIR scores. In one embodiment, the highest EIR score is, forexample, calculated by a total EIR score, which is the average of theEIR aspect scores or the root mean square of the EIR aspect scores,although TPICS is capable of applying any algorithm which effectivelydistinguishes the top reviewed content submitted. An artist who receiveshigh scoring reviews will get focused exposure to music fans duringcontests as well.

TPICS automates the contest. The number of artist submitted contentitems provided to the contest, the weight of voting, and mostfunctionality of TPICS is adjustable by an administrative user. TPICSadditionally provides for secondary contests, sweepstakes and content.TPICS can also provide incentives for use. In one embodiment, users areprovided the opportunity to guess which music submitted will eventuallywin through an automated user contest. Correct guesses provide a userwith points, the points providing the user with additional functionalityor value. Users are also provided with access to music industry news,new music, and genre related information through the web server. Suchnews, music and information is adjustable based on user informationstored in the fan, artist or industry database and/or on a client-sidepersistent cookie.

Finally, TPICS provides an automated listings service. The listingservice allows industry experts to post a request for a certain type ofcontent or music from artists and fans. TPICS then automaticallyforwards any content submitted in response to the listing to a reviewer,in a manner similar to the EIR used in the standard artist submissionprocess described above. If the content meets the requirements of theindustry expert listing, and has a top EIR score, the content isforwarded to the industry expert posting the listing.

FIG. 7 illustrates processes of one embodiment of a contest. An artistproducer 160 of content 770 submits 700 the content to TPICS. Along withthe content 770, the artist typically submits category information andother optional related artist, consumer or contact information. Theartist also optionally provides payment with the submission. Suchpayment can be received through a standard electronic commerce server270 (not shown) connected to TPICS, including, for example, anelectronic payment system, an electronic wallet, an online billingsystem, or through other standard means of payment.

The submitted content 770 enters a pool of initial submissions 900. Thispool of initial submissions 900 is automatically made available toindustry experts 170 on an Industry Review Board (IRB) 950. The industryreview board 950 consists of, in one embodiment, pre-selected,pre-qualified industry experts 170. Each IRB 950 member is associatedwith a particular category or genre of content in the industry expertdatabase. TPICS forwards each artist content submission 900 to anindustry expert on the IRB 950 using the genre or category of thecontent as a basis, among other factors such as, for example, in oneembodiment the number of unfinished reviews an IRB 950 member has, or inanother embodiment the IRB 950 member chooses the submission he or shewill review.

The IRB 950 expert review 720 follows a standard form containing atleast one aspect rating (e.g., a numerical ranking) along with commentsand commentary (e.g., traditional elements of a content movie, music, orcreative work review), in one embodiment an expert industry review (EIR720). Once submitted content 900 is reviewed 720, TPICS adds the content770 and its EIR 720 into a combined expert review 725, which isforwarded to a general contest pool (GCP 730).

The artist (producer) 160, after submission 900 has been reviewed 720 bythe IRB 950, in one embodiment is able to see the reviewed submission725, including all or part of the results of the EIR 720, and all orsome of the aspect scores 722. These are displayed on an artist contentreview page 930 available to the artist through any network-enabledconnection 610.

The GCP 730 represents reviewed content, and reviewed content continuesto accumulate in the GCP 730 until a certain time period passes or acertain number of reviewed content entries have accumulated in the pool.When the configured threshold has been reached, TPICS filters 740 thereviewed submissions 725 from the GCP 730, and selects the top submittedcontent 920. This top submitted content is then forwarded to the sneakpeek pools 910 (one embodiment of the preview pool 750). In oneembodiment, the aspect scores for each submitted content are averagedand a selected number N of submitted content in the GCP 730 with the toptotal EIR 720 are added to the sneak peek pools 910. In anotherembodiment, the total EIR 720 are computed from the root mean square ofthe aspect scores for each reviewed submission. Any selection algorithm(including, for example, even random selection) can be used to determinewhat top submitted content 920 will be added to the next stage of thesneak peek pools 910 (SPPs). The number of content works selected tomove to the next stage of the contest, and the algorithm used to computethe top scores, are typically adjustable by the administrator 130 ofTPICS 100.

The SPPs 910 each contain some number of pieces of content accepted fromthe prior GCP 730. There may be any number of sneak peek pools 910 and,for each contest period 940, the content identified in one sneak peekpool 910 goes on to the next sneak peek pool 910. One embodiment ofTPICS has three sneak peek pools 910 over three contest periods 940,such that a set of submitted content that was accepted from the GCP 730into the SPPs 910 will go through the third, second, then first SPP 910before going on to the final segment of the contest 210. In eachprogressive contest period 940, a new set of top submitted content 920enters the sneak peek pools 910 such that as one set of top submittedcontent 920 moves from sneak peek pool 3 to 2, 2 to 1, and so on. Forexample, a new set of top submitted content 920 takes the place of thecurrent top submitted content in the previous sneak peek pool 910 in thenext contest period 940. When content is in the sneak peek pool 910,some group of users of TPICS can, in advance, preview the content 770 toprovide special consideration of that content 724. In one embodiment,only certain industry experts 170 have access to content 770 in the SPPs910, and fan users 120 and artist producers 160 do not have access tothe sneak peek pools 910. In one embodiment, experts can select contentfrom the In one embodiment, fan users 120 and artist producers 160 dohave access to content in the sneak peek pools 910 but have no abilityto vote or comment on the sneak peek pools 910.

Once a set of top submitted content 920 has gone into the last SPP 910,at the end of that contest period 940, the top submitted content 920moves into a contest phase 530 of TPICS. In one embodiment of theelimination contest 210, all of the top submitted content 920 in thelast SPP is paired into groups of two. Each group of two works is placedin a contest room 980. Industry experts on the Industry Voting Panel(IVP) 960 and fan users both vote 1000 in each contest room 980 as towhich content work should progress to the next round 990 of theelimination contest 210. This elimination contest 210 continues inrounds 990 for each contest period 940 until only two submitted contentremain in a final round 1010. From the two remaining submitted content1010, industry experts on the IVP 960 and fan users 120 both vote 1000between the two remaining works, and the winning content thus wins thatembodiment of a TPICS competition. Industry votes 1000 are calculatedfrom an Industry Voting Panel (IVP) 960. Fan user votes 1000 arecalculated from among all fans registered through TPICS. Industry andfan votes 1000 may be given equal weight or may be given distinct,relative weights to each other in calculating the winner in each room980, and during each round 990, of the elimination contest 210.

Fan users, in one embodiment, at any round 990 of the eliminationcontest 210, are provided by TPICS with a MY PICKS page 930 where fanusers choose individual content which they believe will eventually winthe elimination contest 210. Fans who choose the content whicheventually wins the elimination contest 210 receive credit, such as, forexample, sweepstakes entries as described in FIG. 20.

FIG. 8 represents one embodiment of web-based connections in a TPICSsystem. Elements, such as an expert computer 810, an artist computer820, a fan/user computer 830, and an administrative computer 840, areconnected over one or more networks 140, optionally part of a globaltelecommunications network, such as the Internet, including intranets,private networks, and/or common carriers. The TPICS system 100communicates with other computers 810, 820, 830 and 840 via the network140 using a contest server or web server 200, but may use any networkprotocol and connection. TPICS uses, in this embodiment, threedatabases—an artist (producer) database 300, an industry (expert)database 340, and a fan (user) database 310. The artist database 300contains at least one of but not limited to artist personal information,artist contest information, artist content submissions, and accountinginformation. The industry database 340 contains at least one of but notlimited to industry expert personal information, industry expert genreand expertise information, general industry information, and accountinginformation. The fan database 310 contains at least one of but notlimited to fan personal information, fan contest information, andaccounting information. All three of these databases 300, 310 and 340may contain additional pieces of information as necessary for theconfigured functions of TPICS, as separate functions, contests,sweepstakes or types of content to be reviewed are added or removed fromthe system.

In embodiments using a network-enabled connection 610 (in this case anetworked computer 810, 820, 830 and 840) to the Internet, a user usinga web browser 850 (an example of an access program 600) sends requeststo TPICS 100 and specifically through the contest server 200. Therequests may be hyperlink-based, and may include a URL with or withoutparameters extracted from an HTML-compliant web page or provided by theuser. The server 200 accesses requested materials 800, processes anylogic in the material (such as, for example, CGI scripts) and constructsand returns web pages. Those of ordinary skill will appreciate that thereturned web pages may thus be dynamically created and may, via thelogic processed, contain data retrieved from TPICS or other databases(e.g., external advertising databases) and/or may contain data requestedfrom and formulated by TPICS modules. Thus, an industry expert 170, anartist producer 160, and a fan user 120 each have a computer 810, 820,or 830, a web browser 850, and some means of individual identification860 such as a client-side persistent cookie to keep track of theiridentity as an industry expert, artist producer, or fan user of TPICS100.

Advantageously, TPICS thus provides different functionality fordifferent users. All artist producers and industry experts are typicallyregistered with TPICS. Fan/consumer users also may, but need notregister with TPICS in a similar manner. Even non-registered users(non-registered fans, or visitors) may have access to portions of TPICSfunctionality. The following sections provide an example of the accessand functionality TPICS provides to various users.

Visitors (Unregistered Fans/Consumer Users)

Visitors can, in one embodiment, look, read and listen but cannotparticipate. Since they have not registered and have given noidentifying information, they only have access to generic pages that donot use personal identifiers. They cannot, for example, vote in thecontests, enter sweepstakes, submit songs, or send any email from thisembodiment of TPICS. Visitors can see and hear all submissions otherwiseaccessible to fans/consumer users on TPICS—past and present—in theContest phase, including TPICS winners, by navigation of TPICS providedweb pages, a search function, or similar navigation for otherembodiments of TPICS. Advantageously, the contest information providesimmense value to visitors who may change their consumption patternsbased on having the benefit of expert review and fan voting. Visitorscan access contest information periodically over months or even years toreceive the ongoing benefit of essentially an ever-evolving selectionand refinement of the best works, products or services in an entireindustry.

Visitors have access to all secondary web pages provided by the TPICSweb server, such as, in one embodiment, for example, company backgroundinformation, TPICS background information, frequently asked questions,detailed descriptions of TPICS functionality, TPICS contests, TPICSexpert reviews, and benefits of registration, past TPICS winners, searchfunctionality, legal disclosures, current contest content and works, andTPICS-provided news and information. The scope of access to TPICS forvisitors is adjustable by the administrator user, such that, to theextent personal information is not necessary for any TPICS function,access privileges for visitors can be adjusted to allow access to suchweb pages, TPICS database information, works, and content. Otherembodiments may, for example, provide access to all TPICS functionswithout registration.

News and Information Service

TPICS also provides “biz” pages, a set of adaptable pages, in thisembodiment (VAR) primarily on the theme of the music business. Forexample, by attaching a standard database of updated news andinformation, either internally updated or through a third party viaprotocols such as, for example, XML (extensible markup language) or RDF(metadata resource description frameworks), this section includes musicindustry news and advice from music industry insiders. For example,exclusive interviews locally provided through TPICS biz pages, featuredarticles provided locally, through links to third parties, or throughlinks and/or automated protocol from syndicated sources, and news,provided locally to TPICS, through links to third parties, or throughlinks and/or an automated protocol from syndicated sources. Exclusiveinterviews with artists and featured articles by other music industryprofessionals will provide helpful career tips for artists who arestarting out. News provides music industry news from syndicated sources.News, in this embodiment, is valuable to artists, industry, and musicfans interested in the content involving artists they recognize.

Fans (Registered Visitors/Consumer Users)

After registering, a user has access to a personalized start pageprovided by TPICS every time the user initially accesses TPICS through,in one embodiment, a uniform resource locator (URL) and a web browser.This start page includes personalized content, addresses the user byname and offers a short list of links, primarily to TPICS pages andfunctions available to registered consumer/fan users. Registeredconsumer users/fans (fans) can vote in the contest, whereby a fan useralso participates in the monthly sweepstakes.

A user may change any personal information, preferences for beingincluded on email lists, and password—but not his/her user name—by, inone embodiment, clicking on information and password hyperlinks on theuser start page.

Contest

The numbers used in the following description (e.g. number of conteststages in a Contest Round, number of pools in a contest round stage,number of submissions in a pool) are for the purpose of illustration andcan be changed by the TPICS administrative user. In addition, each stagemay run for any contest period, but a week-long period is used as anexample.

For each contest, TPICS finds (e.g. filters) the 16 songs (e.g., worksor content) with the highest review scores in the general contest pooland randomly pairs them to compete in 8 pools in the eliminationcontest. Visitors (unregistered fans/consumer users) can click on avisual representation of any of the pools and listen to the songs inthat pool; fans (registered fans/consumer users) can vote for the onethey think is the best. If a fan has already voted for one of theartists in this pool, the fan user will be asked whether the user wantsto change that vote, and the user has the option either to confirm thenew vote or leave the old one in place. Once the contest period, in thiscase one week, has ended, all votes for that contest period are final.

Once the voting period has ended (e.g. end of the week) TPICS talliesthe votes in each pool and balances them with the votes of the IndustryVoting Panel (IVP, described below) users. Regardless of how many peoplevote, the outcome of fan votes has a certain weight and the outcome ofIVP votes has a certain weight, determined by the administrative user(e.g. 50% fan vote-50% industry IVP vote). For example, one embodimentof a voting score calculation is described below.

After the first round of the elimination contest (the first contestperiod), eight of the sixteen songs remain, which move on to the nextstage, where they are matched in 4 pools of two songs. At the end ofthis contest period there are only 4 songs left from the original 16;and after another contest period, there are only two songs left. Afterone more contest period, a winner emerges from the final pool of twosongs. In every contest period, 16 new songs enter the first round ofthe elimination contest, so all the pools are always filled. During asingle visit, a fan may vote in all four stages. That means fans alwayshave 30 competing songs (16 in preliminaries+8 semi-finalists+4quarter-finalists+2 finalists) to hear, in this embodiment.

Each fan user can view that user's voting record via the MY PICKSfunction, which through a fan-accessible page, in this embodiment, showsevery vote the fan user casts, per contest period, or alternativelythrough the length of one contest (i.e. a month for four stages of oneweek contest periods, the “sweepstakes period”). A user's voting recordin each contest is represented, in this embodiment, as a table with arow for every artist who received a vote from this user. Each vote isrepresented, for example, as either a green or a red dot depending onwhether the artist in that row was the eventual winner in that stage ofthe elimination contest or not, respectively.

Every vote is worth a certain number of points, or in one embodiment,sweepstakes entries, so at the top of the MY PICKS function page, TPICSpresents to the fan the number of entries that fan has earned in thecurrent sweepstakes.

Sweepstakes

Every contest period, or alternatively every sweepstakes period, TPICSrandomly selects one entry from a pool of sweepstakes entries from fanusers, and from this selected entry, for example, in one embodiment, acash prize can be awarded to the person associated with that entry,absent some external reason for disqualification. Fans earn entries byregistering with TPICS, voting through TPICS and through referrals(described below). TPICS can adapt to add (or subtract) sweepstakesentries for any TPICS function a fan user has access to.

There is a safeguard against random voting built into the currentsweepstakes, whereby a “correct” vote is worth more entries than an“incorrect” vote. A “correct” vote is a vote cast in a particularcontest pool (i.e. a contest among one set of works or contentsubmitted) for the artist who became the winner in that eliminationcontest. In every contest pool, a user may cast a vote for exactly oneartist, and exactly one artist will be the winner, and an “incorrect”vote is a vote for any other artist in the pool. Casting only “correct”votes in a contest period, or alternatively a sweepstakes period, isfurther rewarded by a large number of sweepstakes entries.

Furthermore, “correct” and “incorrect” votes are assigned differentnumber of sweepstakes entries depending on the total number of votescast in a contest period, or alternatively a sweepstakes period. Themore votes cast by a user during a contest or sweepstakes period, themore entries the user receives for each “correct” and “incorrect” vote.Below is one example formula used by TPICS for the calculation ofsweepstakes entries:TE=TCV*WCV+TIV*WIV+ACVF*TV*WACV+TRF*WRF+RE+OPTE  (1)

where:

-   -   TE=Total Entries=total number of sweepstakes entries for a        registered user    -   TCV=Total Correct Votes=total number of correct votes cast by a        registered user in a contest or sweepstakes period    -   WCV=Weight for Correct Votes=the numeric weight value for each        correct vote    -   TIV=Total Incorrect Votes=total number of incorrect votes cast        by a registered user in a contest or sweepstakes period    -   WIV=Weight for Incorrect Votes=the numeric weight value for each        incorrect vote    -   ACVF=All-Correct Votes Flag=A Boolean flag (i.e. value of 0        or 1) indicating whether or not all votes were correct; i.e.        ACVF=1 if all votes cast were correct and    -   ACVF=0 if one or more votes case were incorrect.    -   TV=Total Votes=total number of votes cast by a registered user        in a contest or sweepstakes period (already implemented)    -   WACV=Weight for All Correct Votes=the numeric weight value for        each vote, when all votes are correct    -   TRF=Total number of Referred Friends=Total number of new users        who were referred to TPICS by the user during the month    -   WRF=Weight for Referred Friends=the numeric weight value for        each referred user who came and registered into TPICS.    -   RE=Number of entries for registering to TPICS or already being a        user of TPICS    -   OPTE=Number of entries for opting in to receive third party        product information

For referrals, a referrer user enters the referee (i.e., new user to bereferred) name and email address in, for one embodiment, a simple HTMLform, and the system sends the referee user an email in which thereferrer user's first name appears as the sender.

When the referee visitor accesses TPICS and opts to become a user, thereferee visitor may enter in the user registration form the emailaddress of the referrer user. Upon completion of this registration, thereferrer will receive a certain number of entries into the sweepstakes.

Wherever an artist is featured through TPICS—users may select (in oneembodiment, select a link to the accompanying hyperlinks to) functionswhich send email to this artist and recommend this artist to a friend.Either option, in this embodiment, brings the user to an HTML form foremail that will be sent to the artist (in the first case) or to auser-specified email address (in the second). The user's first name willappear in the email as the sender.

Artists

An artist producer is a fan user who has submitted a song, and thusbecome a producer of content. Artists can do anything that fan users cando, and also have access to some additional TPICS functions and pagesassociated with submitting songs. The start page for artist producershas additional hyperlinks that provide this access.

Every time an artist producer pays for a song submission, a song creditis added to his/her credit bank. Artists may also earn free song creditsthrough the referral system described above, or, alternatively, througha variation of the sweepstakes system described above.

If an artist has a song credit in the credit bank, the artist producermay use that credit to submit a song; otherwise the artist producer mustfirst pay for a song credit. The artist can pay quickly with a creditcard through a secure form (e.g. through an e-commerce provider, asecure sockets layer payment system, an electronic wallet, credit card,and so on). Alternately, the artist producer may send payment throughthe mail.

To submit a song, the artist completes, in one embodiment, a single HTMLform with information about the song, and with the location of the song,related image files to be uploaded, and other information. TPICS, in oneembodiment of the VAR system, supports songs in the MP3 format, andimages in the JPEG or GIF format. However, TPICS is adaptable to anymedia format, and does not depend on a particular media, content, orwork format for the system to function. The artist also, in thisembodiment, provides a song title, an artist name, and the genre orcategory where the artist producer believes the song belongs. The artistproducer may also specify other information, including, for example, asub-genre, tempo, mood, and include lyrics, song notes, an artist bio,an artist home page URL, and special instructions to the reviewer. Whenthe artist submits the form, the system will upload the song and imagefiles from the locations he/she specified into the TPICS database. Theentire submission will then be made available to all or some subset ofindustry reviewers with expertise in the artist-specified genre.

Besides earning sweepstakes entries by referring friends to TPICS, aspreviously described, artist producers can earn free song submissions.When a fan or artist producer submits a song for the first time, theuser will be prompted to enter the email address of an artist whoreferred the new artist producer to this embodiment of TPICS. Thereferring artist will then receive a “referral point”. Once the artisthas accumulated a pre-defined number of referral points (e.g. 3), thesepoints will be replaced by one song credit in his/her credit bank.

At the end of each contest period (e.g. a week), TPICS determinesthrough a filter what songs in the general contest pool will be enteringthe contest. All artists whose songs entered the GCP during this periodwill then receive, in this embodiment, email notifying them that theirsongs have been reviewed; at the same time, they will find out whetheror not their songs will enter the contest. Instead of emailing songreviews, TPICS, in this embodiment, posts them online on the artists'own song review pages (accessible via hyperlink on each artist's startpage). The song review page will show a review for every song the artistsubmits, and show its status in the contest, if applicable.

Industry

Expert Reviewers—in this embodiment members of the Industry Review Board(IRB)—are employed or contracted for any particular embodiment of TPICS,in this case to review songs. They access TPICS, in one embodiment,through a dedicated industry Intranet, through which they completereviews. This intranet also has an accounting section, which allowsreviewers to see monies owed and paid them.

In this embodiment, music industry professionals who feel they arequalified for a position on the IRB may request an application. Based onthe requirements for each embodiment of TPICS, certain professionals areinvited to join the IRB. IRB members have access to TPICS functionalitynot accessible to artist or fan users.

The primary function of the industry review board is to complete reviewsof songs submitted to TPICS. In this embodiment, reviews areconfidential, to be viewed only by the artist whose work is reviewed,and potentially by administrative users performing a quality check. Eachreview has the same format, being the output of an online form in theindustry Intranet.

After logging in to the industry Intranet, reviewers are provided, inthis embodiment, with the first available song (i.e. having the earliestsubmission date) matching a genre in the reviewers' expertise specifiedwhen the reviewer applied for the position. If, upon listening to thesong, a reviewer finds that it is still outside his/her expertise, thereviewer may decline to review it. As soon as the reviewer completes onereview, another song is made available to the IRB industry expert byTPICS.

The virtual review form used by IRB members provides all the informationreviewers need to review a song: links to download or stream the song,special instructions from the artist, and an image (e.g. photo, albumcover) from the artist; it may also contain hyperlinks to lyrics, songnotes, and an artist bio, or other additional information.

The same form allows the reviewer to write comments on any number ofaspects of the work (song) submitted, and to assign a rating from 1 to10 for each, in this embodiment encompassing the following elements:music, lyrics, arrangement/production, lead vocal, musicianship,originality, and marketability. The reviewer will also make generalcomments about the song. The reviewer completes each field, unless it isunambiguously not applicable.

The reviewer can choose to submit the review, finish it later, or returnit to TPICS for assignment to another reviewer (if the industry expert(in this case IRB reviewer) feels not qualified to review thesubmission.) If the song was submitted for a particular industrylisting, the reviewer will decide whether or not the song meritsforwarding to the listing sponsor.

Reviewers can see the reviews for which they have been paid and forwhich they are owed payment, by selecting, in one embodiment, linksaccessing TPICS pages including accounting information dynamicallyretrieved from the TPICS database/databases.

Super reviewers—members of the Industry Voting Panel (IVP)—do notactually review songs. They are IVP industry experts of TPICS who votein the elimination contest described above, or who have paid for accessto the sneak peek preview. Industry experts may be super reviewers (i.e.IVP members) and/or reviewers (i.e. IRB members.)

As mentioned earlier, at the end of each voting period, TPICS talliesthe review scores of all reviewed submissions and selects the top (e.g.16) scoring submissions. Before these selected songs are entered intothe Contest and thereby introduced to the public, including artistproducers, fan users, and unregistered visitors, they are held forpre-determined periods of time in a sneak peek preview area. Members ofthe IVP have special access to the sneak peek preview where they canpreview top-scoring submissions before the contest begins.

Score Calculation

In one embodiment, TPICS filters reviewed submissions from the GCP todetermine the top-scoring submissions for entry into the Sneak PeekPools and/or Elimination Contest. As an example of one of the manyalgorithms possible to filter works submitted, one can determine thetotal review score for an artist x in contest pool of potentialsubmissions P calculated as:

$\begin{matrix}{{{Score\_ x}{\_ P}} = {{\frac{F\_ x}{F\_ total}{FW}} + {\frac{I\_ x}{I\_ total}{IW}}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

where:

-   -   Score_x_P=final score for artist x in pool P    -   F_x=number of fan votes for artist x in pool P    -   F_total=number of fans who voted in pool P (for any artist in        the pool)    -   FW=weight of fan votes    -   I_x=number of industry votes for artist x in pool P    -   I_total=number of industry who voted in pool P    -   IW=weight of industry votes

The ratio FW:IW determines the relative voting power of fan users andartist producers to industry. A ratio of 1:1 gives each group equalweight. As an example, let us say that there are 3 artists (e.g. artistsx, y, and z) in pool P, 1000 fans vote in pool P: 200 vote for x, 500for y, and 300 for z, 50 industry vote in pool P: 35 for x, 5 for y, and10 for z, and fans and industry are given equal weight. Then the scoresare:

$\begin{matrix}{{{Score\_ x}{\_ P}} = {{{\frac{200}{1000} \times 1} + {\frac{35}{50} \times 1}} = {{0.2 + 0.7} = 0.9}}} & (3) \\{{{Score\_ y}{\_ P}} = {{{\frac{500}{1000} \times 1} + {\frac{5}{50} \times 1}} = {{0.5 + 0.1} = 0.6}}} & (4) \\{{{Score\_ z}{\_ P}} = {{{\frac{300}{1000} \times 1} + {\frac{10}{50} \times 1}} = {{0.3 + 0.2} = 0.5}}} & (5)\end{matrix}$and artist x, with the highest score as calculated in equation 3, is thewinner in this pool.Sweepstakes Entries

Each vote cast by a user is worth a certain number of sweepstakesentries, depending on the total number of votes cast by the user duringthe contest period or sweepstakes period (e.g. month), such that, forexample:

TABLE 1 Total Votes Bracket 1-15 16-30 31-45 46 or more Incorrect 1entry 2 entries 4 entries  8 entries Correct 2 entries 4 entries 8entries 16 entries

A “correct” vote is a vote for the winner of a match. If a user votes 17times during a sweepstakes period, then that user gets 2 entries foreach incorrect vote and 4 entries for each correct vote. If the usercontinues to vote, as soon as the user casts his/her 31st vote thissweepstakes period, each of the incorrect votes will be worth 4 entriesand each correct vote will be worth 8 entries.

If all of the user's votes are correct, the user will get additionalbonus entries. Again, the number of entries depends on the number ofvotes, for example:

TABLE 2 Total Votes Bracket 1-15 16-30 31-45 46 Or More All-Correct 10entries 200 entries 300 entries 500 entries BonusIf, for example, all of the user's 31 votes were correct, he/she wouldget 31×4=124 entries plus 300 bonus sweepstakes entries.

Users get certain number of entries (e.g. 100) every time one of theirfriends becomes a TPICS user through the Refer-A-Friend Bonus Program.This does not depend on the number of times the user votes.

Users get a certain number of entries (e.g. 5) when they first registerto become users. From that point on, TPICS automatically credits theuser with the prevailing number of registration entries at the start ofany new sweepstakes.

Users get certain number of entries (e.g. 5) if they opt-in to receivethird party product information when they first register to becomeusers. From that point on, TPICS automatically credits the user with theprevailing number of Opt-In entries at the start of any new sweepstakes.

FIG. 9 represents an illustration of the movement of content throughTPICS including an Industry Review Board (IRB) content review. First,all submitted content within a contest period 940 accumulates in thesubmission pool 900. Based on artist's choice of genre 1020 for theirsubmitted content, their submission is sorted 710 and forwarded to anIRB expert reviewer 950. In one embodiment, for example, if the content770 reviewed by TPICS is music, the genres 1020 from which the artistmay choose and from which the expert reviewers 170 are chosen could beclassical, pop, rock, dance, folk, R&B, country, etc. The genres 1020are adjustable by the administrative user 130, and are not limited tothis representative embodiment.

Once the expert reviewer 170 has provided the standard EIR 720 of thesubmitted content, in one embodiment the completed review 725 istypically sent to the artist content review page 930 where the artist160 can view the EIR 720 of their submitted content 770. In the GCP 730,as previously described, during each contest period 940 somepre-selected number of top submitted content 920 is filtered 740 andselected from the GCP 730 using some algorithmic calculation on theaspect scores to form a total review score and a pre-selected number oftop-scoring content are sent forward to the next stage which is thesneak peek pools 910 (SPP). The SPPs 910, as previously described, aresome number of pools where the selected content moves from one pool tothe next over each contest period for the number of pools that areselectively chosen for any particular embodiment of the system. Eachpool contains the number of submitted content that were taken from thegeneral contest pool 730 as having top total reviews and the contentremains in the SPPs 910 for the number of contest periods 940 that thereare number of pools. After the selected content in the sneak peek poolhas gone through all of the sneak peek pools 910 (there can be anywherefrom one to as many as selected) then the selected content enters acontest 210.

FIG. 10 illustrates a representation of the movement of submittedcontent through the general contest pool (GCP) in one embodiment ofTPICS. At the end of each voting period, i.e., the end of each contestperiod 940, TPICS sorts the submissions 770 and associated completedexpert reviews 725 in the general contest pool 730 by applying asubmission filter module 740. In one embodiment, this results in threecategories. The first category 1100 is content with top review scoressufficient to fill one sneak peek pool 910 is top submitted content 920.In one embodiment, the number of top submitted content 920 selected withthe top review scores 720 will be sixteen content works. Second, contentwith EIR 720 scores that are lower than the first category, which havebeen in the GCP 730 for less than some selected grace period, are keptin the GCP 730 for another contest period 940. Third, content that havebeen in the GCP 730 for the entire grace period (which is a selectednumber of contest periods 940) and have not been selected as topsubmitted works 920 are removed 1120 from the GCP 730, and typicallythen removed from TPICS. Top submitted content 920 then enters thepreview pools 750 (sneak peek pools 910 in this embodiment), beforebeing forwarded to the contest 210.

FIG. 11 represents an example, at week zero, of an embodiment of TPICSwherein a set of content has been reviewed and has entered the generalcontest pool. This content 770 is labeled as artists #1 through #30, butcan be any selected number of submitted content. At this point, nocontent has entered the sneak peek pools 910 or the elimination contest210. Also, in this embodiment, the contest period 940 is one week. Inthis embodiment of a contest form (of which there are many variations),the sneak peek pools (SSPs) 910 include three pools 1200, 1210 and 1220,none of which initially have any content. Similarly, there is no contentin the contest itself.

FIG. 12 represents the embodiment of TPICS as illustrated in FIG. 11 ata time three weeks later. The GCP 730 now has a new set of submitted andreviewed content items 770 in it, in this case, artists #49 through #79but, again, this can be any selected number of submitted content.Through each of weeks 1, 2, and 3, some subset of the submitted contentin the GCP 730 was selected by calculating the total EIR 720, and wasforwarded into the SPPs 910. During the first week, artists 1 through 16were selected from the GCP 730 to enter SPP 1 (1220). During the secondweek, artists in SPP 3 (1200) were sent to SPP 2 (1210), and artists#17-#32 were accepted into SPP 3 (1200) from the GCP 730 based on totalreview score. During week 3, artists #33-#48 were accepted from the GCP730 based on top total review score and artists #17-#32 move from SPP 3(1200) to SPP 2 (1210) and artists #1-#16 move from SPP 2 (1210) to SPP1 (1220). At week three, no content 770 has yet entered the contest 210.

FIG. 13 represents the embodiment of TPICS as illustrated in FIG. 11 ata time four weeks later. A new set of content has entered the GCP 730, anew set of content has been selected from the GCP 730 as top submittedcontent 920 to go on to the SPPs 910. The set of 16 content works fromthe last SPP 910 round (SPP #1 1220) has entered the elimination contest210. In this embodiment, submitted content is coupled into groups of twoworks 770 for each contest room 980. So in one embodiment, given 16 topsubmitted content 920 entering the elimination contest 210, there wouldthen be eight rooms 980 of two works. (However, any number of works maybe associated with a particular contest room 980). For each room 980 oftwo works, some combination of industry, artist, and fan users votebetween each set of two to select a winning work in each room 980. Thesevotes, as previously described, can be equally weighted or can bevariably weighted relative to each other by user type or individualuser, according to a voting algorithm.

FIG. 14 represents the embodiment of TPICS as illustrated in FIG. 11 ata time seven weeks later. This is after seven contest periods 940 or, inthis embodiment, seven weeks. Content works 770 continue to collect inthe GCP 730, and top submitted content 920 selected by the filter 740continues to enter the SPP 910. The content entering the eliminationcontest 210, in each round, is either selected to go to the next roundof elimination contest 210 by winning in its contest room 980, or loses.If there are 16 top submitted content 920 initially entered in eachround 990, and the content works are divided into eight rooms 980 withtwo works in each room, half of the content will continue on to the nextelimination contest stage (by winning in a contest room) and half of thecontent will be rejected (by losing in a contest room). In onealternative embodiment, the winning content from each elimination round990 are selected by top vote score and the selected number of contenthaving the top vote score will go on to the next elimination round 990.Once TPICS reaches the final elimination round 990, there are, in oneembodiment, only two top submitted content 920 remaining and fan usersand IVP 960 industry experts vote on the winning submission. Thesubmission that wins the final round 1010 wins the contest.

FIG. 15 represents acts performed by an a producer using one embodimentof TPICS to submit a song. The artist 160 chooses via a command to theserver to submit content 1310. TPICS queries 1320 to see if the artist160 has already logged on. If not, the system asks the artist to log on1330 to the system. If the artist is not yet a user, the artist is askedto register 1340 and personal artist/producer information 1350 isreceived by TPICS, including, for example, in one embodiment referralinformation, name and email addresses. If the artist has previouslyregistered, then the artist is immediately sent to the credit or paymentpage 1370. At this point, the artist, if previously unregistered, candecide 1360 to submit content or not. If the previously unregisteredartist decides not to submit content, the artist is returned to theartist start page 1300. If the artist decides to submit content, theartist can decide to pay using a simple standard electronic commercetransaction 270, via an online bank, credit card, paper billing, etc.,or the artist may use an existing content credit 1375 received for priorwork or received from prior contest participation or winning prior songsubmissions. The artist is asked whether he or she is ready to submitcontent 1390. If so, the artist submits 700 the content through anystandard network protocol. If the artist producer is submitting contentfor the first time 1385, the user is asked for user referral information1380, from which TPICS adds sweepstakes points and/or referral songcredits to the referring user. After submission, the artist/producer isreturned to an artist start page 1300 served by the contest server 200.

In one embodiment of TPICS, an artist submits content (in this case, thework is a song) 700. The artist 160 is provided with links to otherparts of TPICS, and the artist can enter various information regardingthe content, including, in one embodiment the content (song) title, theartist name, and a link to the content hosted on a third party server,in one embodiment in Mpeg-3 (MP3) format, the genre of the content, andother information such as, for example, the sub-genre if required, thetempo of the content, the mood, any photos related to the album or theartist, lyrics, an artist biography, an artist home page, etc.

In one embodiment, content is reviewed in an expert industry review (EIR720). The review, in this embodiment, is provided through a dynamic webpage which combines one of many pre-formatted web pages 800 with datafrom the TPICS databases 300-350. In this embodiment the review is madeaccessible to an artist producer 160 through a web page accessible onlyto that artist. For aspects of a work 770 reviewed, the expert review720 may include, in one embodiment, one or more aspect scores 772 whichquantify the expert review 720 on a known scale (for example, 1 to 10)for ranking purposes.

In one embodiment, various aspects of the content are reviewed by anexpert reviewer. In this case, for a musical work, aspects reviewedinclude music, lyrics, lead vocal, musicianship, arrangement,production, and originality. For each aspect in this embodiment, theexpert reviewer 170 (typically, but not required to be, an IRB member950) provides a quantitative or descriptive rating with a minimum ormaximum value (aspect score 772). In this embodiment the expert review720 also contains a textual commentary for each aspect reviewed. Theexpert review 720 also contains space for general comments by the expertreviewer 170. The expert reviewer 170, in this embodiment, is providedwith an overview of the artist content submission 770 and relatedinformation to assist in preparing the expert review 720.

Second Example Embodiment of the Invention

Returning to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, which show an overview of oneimplementation of a TPICS server portion of a TPICS system 100 in oneembodiment, the TPICS server consists of numerous software modulesincluding one or more contest servers 200, database management modules240, contest creation modules 220, contest management modules 230, andthe like. A provider 110 accesses the TPICS system 100 through thenetwork 140. Through a provider administration tool (“PAT”) 440 theprovider can register as a TPICS provider 110 and create TPICS contests210. A provider 110 can create more than one contest 210. Multipleproviders 110 can use a TPICS system 100 and the TPICS contest server200 at the same time, and create multiple contests 210 throughindividual PATs 440. Advantageously, the provider can use the TPICScontest for marketing research on media content, for online promotionsof media content, or for expert review of media content as describedabove.

End-users 120 participate in TPICS contests 210 created by providers 110by voting for TPICS contestants (see FIG. 17) in those contests 210. TheTPICS system also includes an internal TPICS end-user database 310 whichkeeps records on each TPICS end-user 120. In addition to personalregistration information, the TPICS end-user database 310 can containinformation on an end-user's votes (“My Picks”, see FIG. 19) 410,end-user's sweepstakes entries (“My Sweepstakes”, see FIG. 20) 420, andconsumer marketing or advertising information 430. Personal registrationinformation can be imported from an external database 400, such as adatabase run by a provider 110, or can be directly entered through TPICSend-user registration forms, described below, and, in one embodiment, isat least partially editable by the end-user (see FIG. 21).

FIG. 16 shows an overview of one embodiment of a TPICS contest templateform. The contest template can be customizable within TPICS, or can becompletely designed by the provider 110, where certain standard TPICScontest elements are included through embedded code (such as, forexample XML, CSS, hyperlinks, or framed content.) In this embodiment,the contest template form includes a logo 1400 and a contest title 1410customizably placed on the top portion of the form. A contest votingcutoff time 1420 is also posted to inform end-users 120 of contestduration. A set of end-user options 1430 is provided, and is describedin more detail below. Finally, the TPICS contest 210 is customizablyprovided including one or more contest rounds 990 (e.g., quarter-final,semi-final, final) where each contest round 990 contains one or morecontest rooms 980, 1010. Each contest room 980, 1010 provides, forexample, a hyperlink to a detail view of each of the associated TPICScontestants (and associated content works).

After voting in each room 980 of a contest round 990, losing content iseliminated and winning content goes on to the next round 990. After thevoting in the final round for the contestant works in the final room1010, a winner 1440 is declared. The content producer associated withthe winning content typically receives an award, such as, for example,sweepstakes entries, credit towards further submissions to TPICS,monetary awards, or a distribution agreement for their content.

FIG. 17 shows an overview of one embodiment of a TPICS contest room 980.Each contest room 980 includes objects representing some number ofcontestant 1500. For each contestant 1500, a contestant summary isprovided including, for example, contestant name 1510, short description1520, contestant media content 1530, and contestant details 1540, andthe like. Other information provided for each contestant 1500, in oneembodiment, includes contestant photos 1550. The media content 1530 istypically a link or path to descriptive data, either stored on TPICS orwith a third party. The same options are typically provided for allcontestants 1500 in a contestant room 980. Each contestant summaryelement 1510-1550 can include an option or link to more detailedinformation. Thus, in one embodiment, clicking on “contestant details”will provide a contestant detail form to an end-user, as shown below inFIG. 18. In one embodiment, the contest room includes customized formelements, including, for example, a customer logo 1400, a contest title1410 and a voting cutoff time 1420.

An end-user 120 expresses a preference for a contestant by votingthrough a vote 1000. The vote may be a button, hyperlink, dialog box, orany other query which allows the user 120 to pick one or morecontestants 1500 as preferred. The vote 1000 is associated with thevoter (end-user, producer or expert submitting the vote) and is countedtowards the content work in the contest, according to a votingalgorithm. TPICS may be configured to allow one or more votes per voter,in each round or in each room. The number of votes permitted a voter ina room is preferably less than the number of contestants represented inthe room.

FIG. 18 shows an overview of one embodiment of a TPICS contestant detailform. A contestant detail form can contain additional contestantinformation either stored at the TPICS system 100 in a content database320, another TPICS database or some external location. For example, inone embodiment, the contestant detail form includes a contestant photo1610 and contestant detailed information 1600. Provider customizationssuch as a customer logo 1400 can advantageously be included.Additionally, such a detail form can include, for example, media orproducts for sale through a purchase link 1620 to an e-commerce server270, or links to a provider service or third party service such as thecontestant's web page, interactive television channel, online store, andthe like.

FIG. 19 shows one embodiment of an end-user voting history form 970, or“my picks” form, based on information stored in the voting (“my picks”)data 410 portion of the end-user database 310. Such a form is accessiblefrom a user options menu 1430. As shown in the user options menu 1430(shown in FIG. 16), an end-user 120 can select a “my picks” option toview a history of previous and current “votes” in one or more ongoing orcompleted contests 210. Typically an end-user 120 can only vote 1000 ina particular contest round 990 while that round (or stage) is active.Once the contest round 990 has ended, voting for the round ends. Aftervoting ends, if the end-user 120 voted for the contestant 1500 whoreceived the most votes overall, the end-user's vote is “correct” 1700.If the end-user voted for a non-winning contestant, the end-user's voteis “wrong” 1710. As described below, in one embodiment of TPICS acorrect vote results in the end-user receiving more sweepstakes entriesthan a wrong vote. However, an end-user may, in one embodiment, receivesome sweepstakes entries for even a wrong vote. In each stage of a TPICScontest, the number of sweepstakes entries for either a correct or wrongvote can vary. In one embodiment, the “my picks” form presents a tableview of vote totals 1720 of correct votes 1700 and wrong votes 1710 ineach round 990 of each contest 210 in which the end-user 120 hasparticipated.

For example, an HTML-based options selection button (i.e. drop downmenu) can be used to view voting history 1730 for a particular user. Aswith other forms, customizations such as contest logo 1400 can beincluded.

FIG. 20 shows one embodiment of an end-user “my sweepstakes” form, basedon information stored in the sweepstakes (“my sweepstakes”) data 420portion of the end-user database 310 and accessible from a user optionsmenu 1430. In one embodiment, the “my sweepstakes” form presents asummary table view 1800 and detail table view 1810 of sweepstakesentries 1820. Summary and detail button options may determine which viewTPICS presents. An end-user 120 can view the total number of sweepstakesentries 1820 awarded for various actions within the TPICS system 100.For each contest 210, given the number of correct votes 1700 and wrongvotes 1710, a number of resulting sweepstakes entries 1820 are shown.For each non-contest activity (subscription to newsletters, friendreferrals, and the like) a certain number of provider- (oradministrator-) defined sweepstakes entries 1820 are added to theend-user's 120 total number of sweepstakes entries 1820. The sweepstakesentries may be used to enter contests for goods and services, including,for example, credit towards submission of content for expert review (inembodiments where the TPICS expert review system 290 is included) orcredit towards purchases of content from providers 110 or third parties.Again, form customizations such as customer logo 1400 can be included inthe form.

In one embodiment, TPICS 100 uses the same Sweepstakes features as inthe first example embodiment described previously. In that example,there are different contest brackets for end-users with varying votehistories (i.e. end-users who vote more than 100 times/month, end-userswho vote between 11-99 times/month, and end-users who vote less than 10times/month), with each bracket having lower and upper bounds. The morean end-user votes, the more sweepstakes entries an end-user receives:end-users get different number of entries depending on how many timesthey have voted, which in turn puts them within certain brackets (i.e.frequent users, occasional users, new users, etc.)

FIG. 21 shows one embodiment of an end-user 120 profile form accessiblefrom a user options menu 1430. Each end-user 120 can edit or resetvarious personal registration information 1900 stored in the end-userdatabase 310 submitted during registration with the TPICS server. Theend-user 120 can advantageously edit or reset personal registrationinformation 1900 using an edit option 1910 or a reset option 1920.Options, such as privacy options (not shown), fee-for-use services (notshown), and the like, can advantageously be added to the end-userprofile form.

FIG. 22 shows one embodiment of a list of available TPICS contests 210accessible from a user options menu 1430. In one embodiment, for eachcontest 210 active on the contest server 200, a contest identificationnumber 2200 is shown, along with contest short title 2210, contest shortdescription 2220, and the sponsoring provider 2230 for each contest. Theentries describing each contest may be hyperlinks providing more detail,for example, URL's may be associated with each of the entriesrepresenting a sponsoring provider, thus enabling hyperlink access tosponsor web sites when any of the sponsor entries is selected (forexample by clicking over the text). The list of contests, available toall end-users 120, includes all public and active TPICS contests 210.The contest information embodied, for example, by 2200, 2210 and 2220 istypically stored in the provider database 300 along with other providerand contest information, but may be stored in any TPICS database.

FIG. 23 shows one embodiment of an end-user referral form accessiblefrom a user options menu 1430. An end-user 120 can refer a friend viaelectronic mail, for which the end-user 120 can gain additionalsweepstakes entries 1820. The user, in one embodiment, enters the friendname 2300, the friend e-mail address 2310, and can submit thisinformation 2320 or reset the list of friend referrals 2330. If thefriend registers with the TPICS system 100, additional sweepstakesentries 1820 are given to the referring end-user 120 in one embodiment.

FIG. 24 shows one embodiment of a content submission form used by theproducer submission module 235. As in other example forms, the customerlogo 1400 and selection menu 1430 may be included in this embodiment ofa content submission form. The content producer then submits contentinformation, including but not limited to the content file 2400, whichmay be uploaded directly or simply provided as a hyperlink or file path.A genre 2410 is selected in this embodiment, for example, through anoptions pull-down menu with a set of pre-selected genres for the contentproducer to choose from. Other information may be collected as well,such as, for example, music tempo via a tempo pull-down menu 2420, musicmood via a mood pull-down menu, lyrics, artist biography information,content description, and so on. The information shown in FIG. 24 ismeant only as an example, and is not intended to be comprehensive orlimiting. The information, once entered by the content producer througha network enabled access program such as a web browser, can be submittedthrough a submit button 2430 or cleared through a clear button 2440 inthis embodiment.

FIG. 25 shows one embodiment of an expert review form used by the expertreview module 290. As in other forms, the customer logo 1400 andselection menu 1430 are present in this embodiment of an expert reviewform. The expert receives the expert review form from the contestserver, through the network, and views it using a network enabled accessprogram, such as a web browser, in this embodiment. The expert maydownload 2500 the content, or listen to (or view) 2510 the content via astreaming format such as provided by RealNetworks® or Microsoft®. Theexpert review 720 is divided into a number of categories, providingspecific focus for the expert's review. In addition, for one or morecategories, a predetermined set of aspect scores 722 (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10) is included, allowing the expert to simply selectone of the set of aspect scores for a characteristic of the work. Inanother embodiment, the expert review form may provide forexpert-selected aspect scores, numeric or otherwise. Alternatively,simple written instructions may provide guidance to the expert insuggesting a range of values to be used in ranking a work orcharacteristics of the work. When the expert is satisfied with thereview, the review can be submitted via a submission button 2520 orcleared via a clear button 2530.

FIG. 26 shows one embodiment of a contest creation form used by thecontest creation module 220 for creating a contest. Any number ofcontest creation formats can be used, and this form shows only oneexample using an HTML web form created by the contest creation module,and served by the contest server to the contest provider, where thecontest provider views the form and submits contest creation informationusing a network enabled access program. Information such as the contestname 2600 (using a text input box), contest web address 2610 (using atext input box), contest template 2620 (using radio selector boxes), andcontest period selection 2630 (using an options menu), using any kind ofinput form, can be entered. It will be appreciated by those of ordinaryskill that a different format may be used to collect contest creationparameters, such as, for example, drop-down menus for a number ofrounds, a number of rooms, a number of items per room, etc. Also, as analternative to providing a fixed price for pre-determined contestformats, a price calculation algorithm can be used to determine the costof a contest. One such algorithm may be $W*RM*RD (where W=number ofworks, RM=number of rooms, RD=number of rounds). Those of ordinary skillwill appreciate that many other algorithms could be used and could weighadditional factors such as duration of contest period.

FIG. 27 shows an embodiment of a contest format form used by the contestcreation module 220 for setting up a contest. In this example, contestdescription text 2700 (using text input boxes), a hyperlink to acustomer logo 1400 to be displayed in a customer logo request 2710 (filepath to logo data may be input using a text input box), and numerouscontest form customizations 2720, such as background image or color2730, font size and color 2740, hyperlink text size and color 2750,visited hyperlink text size and color 2760, or a CSS style sheet 2770can be entered. The contest creation module 220 will apply the formatselections to a contest it creates. Those of ordinary skill willappreciate that other formats may be entered and applied, such as, forexample, font face, bolding, underlining, justification, and the like.

FIG. 28 shows yet another embodiment of a contest creation form used bythe contest creation module 220 for producer selected content (see FIG.5 item 715). When the contest provider submits content directly, ratherthan through a producer submission module 235, the contest provider cansubmit information including, for example, the contestant name 2800(using a text input box), and the content work 2810 (using a path todata representing the content work entered via a text input box). Inthis case, the content is submitted via a hyperlink (uniform resourcelocator), and may or may not be stored on the TPICS system. A contestoverview 2820 provides an overview of the customizations and format ofthe contest created.

FIG. 29 shows one embodiment of a form used by the contest creationmodule 220 for contest options. Any number of contest options, using avariety of input forms, such as HTML-based forms, can be used. In thisembodiment, the contest creator is queried for a public or privatecontest 2900, where a private contest is not visible to other TPICSusers in a contest directory such as shown in FIG. 22. Similarly, thecontest provider can select whether a link to the contest directory isincluded using a contest directory link query 2910 (radio selector box).As another example, the contest provider can select whether banneradvertising will be included from the advertising module using a banneradvertisement query 2920 (radio selector box). Finally, the contestprovider agrees to the terms and conditions 2930 of the TPICS system, byeither accepting the conditions and creating the contest by an acceptbutton 2940, or by canceling the contest 2950.

Applications of the Second Example Embodiment

In one embodiment, a TPICS system includes a Your Contest Network (YCN)using a set of semi-autonomous application modules, features anddatabases to provide services to providers such as, for example, thirdparty, network accessible content providers, including but not limitedto websites or interactive television features. Using YCN, providers cancreate their own custom contests using TPICS. Once providers havecreated their own contests, they imbed a “contest” link, or othercontest code segment, within their own provider content in, for example,a website, interactive display, interactive television, or otherinteractive content. The “link” or contest code segment forwardsvisitors to the provider web-site or interactive display (hereinafterreferred to as “users”) from the provider to the provider's contestprovided by a YCN server. End-users can register to become end-users ofa YCN server in order to vote in the provider's contest or any othercontest available on any particular YCN server, or end-users can beregistered in association with a provider web-site or other externaldatabase.

A YCN server can share the same end-user membership database with anexternal server provided by a provider or by the YCN server itself, suchas, for example, the expert review system described in the first exampleembodiment described above. In that case, both YCN and TPICS can sharethe same end-user membership database, MY PICKS, and MY SWEEPSTAKES dataand features. However, YCN is typically much simpler than TPICS as itdoes not require any special class of reviewers to rank or gradecontent: specifically, YCN in one embodiment incorporates a contestserver with the expert review module disabled. YCN only requiresproviders to set up their contest, and end-users to participate in thecontest. Alternatively, each provider can correlate their membershipdatabase to YCN, by simply conforming their internal end-user data to astandard YCN end-user data template.

A YCN provider is typically responsible for uploading contestants andcontent in the first stage of their own contests, and therefore a YCNserver does not require any system to “weed out” submissions to thecontest. Such additional “weeding out” steps can be added, such as, forexample, through the expert review TPICS implementation of the GCP(“general contestant pool”) and SPP (“special preview pool or sneak peekpool”) described above.

Providers can setup their account and create their contests by reachinga YCN server through any connection to the server, either local orthrough a network. In one embodiment, a contest can be created using acontest creation wizard (“CCW”). After contests have been created via aCCW, providers can update their contests and receive reports using aprovider administrative tool (“PAT”) provided to each provider by theYCN server. A provider can design, own and run multiple contests on aYCN server, and multiple providers can use the same YCN server fordifferent contests served to different provider web-sites or contentservers.

A YCN server can provide its providers any pre-defined set of contesttemplates. For example, a YCN server can provide 4 contest templates toselect from, i.e. single-stage, 2-stage, 3-stage, and 4-stage contests,wherein each stage is an elimination round competition where a certainnumber of high-vote getting entries in each stage move on to the nextstage. A YCN server need not use open-ended revolving contests, meaningthat as winning contestants move forward to the next rounds, theprevious rounds stay empty and are not filled. Alternatively, throughapplication of modules from the TPICS system, previous rounds can stayfilled as the contest continues over time.

For example, assuming a 4-stage contest (preliminary through final),when the 8 winners of the preliminary stage move into the 4quarter-final pools, the 8 pools in the preliminary stage will remainempty and will not be filled by new contestants. The preliminary stagecan, but need not, have new contest entrants after a previous set ofcontest entrants has been voted on in a contest round.

Each contest round can have a pre-defined length. For example, a YCNserver can divide a contest into phases. In phase one of a YCN contestserver 200, the length of a contest round can be any time period, fromone hour to one day to one week. Minimum or maximum time bounds can beset, for example, restricting contests from being shorter than one dayor longer than one week, but such bounds are adjustable by either theprovider or the administrator of the YCN server. For example, a 4-stagecontest with a contest round length of 1 day, takes a total of 4 days tocomplete. As another example, a 3-stage contest with a contest roundlength of one week, takes a total of 3 weeks to complete. The YCN systemis flexible enough so that other lengths can be assigned to the contestrounds, for example, any multiple of 30 minutes such as 1 hour, 2 hours,4.5 hours.

A YCN provider, in one embodiment, simply includes certain predefinedYCN code segments in their own provider web site code. Alternatively,the YCN contest can be hosted on the YCN server, and the YCN providercan customize the contest using a number contest parameters. Forexample, contest text and titles, a YCN provider logo, a logo backgroundcolor, and page formatting can be selected even if pages are hosted onlyon the YCN server.

A YCN provider is responsible for providing the contestants and mediacontent to be used in the competition. A YCN server can host media, buta YCN server can allow providers to provide hosting and streaming theirown media of any format (photos, MPEG Layer-3 Audio “MP3s”, Real® media,OGG Vorbis, WMF “windows media format”, and the like) at a known URL. AYCN server can thus typically need to store only the URLs for thecontestant media, and not the actual media itself. When the YCN serverneed only store the URL of the provider-hosted content, it also allowsany type of content accessible by URL to be implemented as part of aprovider content, thus allowing for new media formats and new mediatechnologies without the need to internally upgrade the YCN server.

Another embodiment of a YCN provider content design form, including YCNprovider options for their contest, includes, for example, whether thecontest is public, whether to link to the YCN contest directory, andwhether to include banner advertising. The YCN provider is bound to aset of terms and conditions as well. Once the YCN provider has chosencontest parameters, customized the contest, and completed theregistration process, then, in one embodiment, the YCN provider uses astandard e-commerce server to pay for the contest. In other embodiments,the YCN contest can be free.

Administrative personnel for a YCN server can use an administrativenetwork to manage and monitor all the contests running on the YCNserver. The administrative network can only be accessible toadministrative personnel. In one embodiment, the YCN administrativenetwork can be a subset of the TPICS administrator network.

Example YCN Application

In one example, a provider has a website called provider.com. Theprovider wants to create a contest on his site. The provider comes to aYCN server and uses a Contest Creation Wizard (CCW) to create his owncustom contest, in one example embodiment of the CCW, using five steps.The order of these steps is adjustable depending on the implementationof the YCN server, and any particular order is not necessary to performthe steps properly.

The provider designs the contest by choosing a pre-defined template. Theprovider adds content to the first stage of the contest. The providersets contest parameters—customizing the look and feel of the contestpages to match the provider's own web site. The provider chooses paymentoptions—paying the YCN server provider for the creation and use of thecontest. The provider publishes the contest, and thus starts the conteston the YCN server.

The provider signs up with a YCN server by entering requiredinformation, e.g. name, address, phone, etc. The amount and detail ofinformation required varies from implementation to implementation. It isforeseen that this information can be automatically transferred from theprovider to the YCN server through a secure identification channel, apreexisting database, and the like. The required provider informationcan also exist on another server such as an existing TPICS server.

Step 1: Design Contest

The provider defines the name of its contest (for example, “Battle ofDJs,” “Best Poem on Existentialism,” or “Worst Business Method PatentGranted to Date”). In one embodiment, the contest name can be unique onthe YCN server, but the YCN server can identify similarly named conteststhrough internal identification numbers.

The provider can select a pre-defined contest template, such as, forexample, one of the four pre-defined contests:

-   -   (a) Template #1 contains only 1 Stage (i.e. Final) containing        only 1 pool (Pool 1), with 2 or more contestants allowed in the        pool. Template #1 only has 1 Contest Round. The length of the        Contest Round is fixed to 1 day or 1 week. Alternatively,        end-users can vote approval or disapproval for one contestant,        or the contest time can be adjusted.    -   (b) Template #2 contains 2 Stages (Semi-Final and Final)        containing total of 3 pools (2 in Semi-Final and 1 in Final),        with any number of contestants allowed in each pool. Template #2        has 2 Contest Rounds with any contest length for each round of        the contest, such as 1 day or 1 week.    -   (c) Template #3 contains 3 Stages (Quarter-Final, Semi-Final and        Final) containing total of 7 pools (4 in Quarter-, 2 in Semi-        and 1 in Final), with 2 contestants allowed in each pool.        Template #3 has 3 Contest Rounds with a fixed length of 1 day or        one week per round. Therefore, the total contest period for        Template #3 is either 3 days or 3 weeks.    -   (d) Template #4 contains 4 Stages (Preliminary, Quarter-Final,        Semi-Final and Final) containing total of 15 pools (8 in        Preliminary, 4 in Quarter-Final, 2 in Semi-Final and 1 in        Final), with 2 contestants allowed in each pool. Template #4 has        4 Contest Rounds with a fixed length of 1 day or one week per        round. Therefore, the total contest period for Template #4 is 4        days or 4 weeks.

Stage names are standardized for these templates (e.g. Preliminary,Quarter Final, Semi Final, and Final) but depending on YCN settings theycan be changed by provider. In each Stage, there can be one or more“Pools” of contestants. This pool can be defined and later changed bythe provider (e.g. Club House). Each pool can contain any number ofcontestants. The contestants, in one embodiment, are chosen by theprovider.

Step 2: Add Content

In this Step, the provider enters any number of contestants in each poolof the first stage of the YCN contest. For each contestant, the providerenters a set of contestant identification information (“CII”)constituting a number of fields of information for each contestant. CIIcontains, at least, the contestant name and the contestant content forthe competition, or a code segment linking to the contestant content.For example, in one embodiment, the provider enters the following:

-   -   1—Contestant Name    -   2—Short Description of the Contestant    -   3—Picture or Picture Link for the contestant    -   4—Media Content or Media Link for the contestant    -   5—Detailed description of the contestant

As noted previously, YCN can but does not need to store the photo andmedia content of contestants. YCN can accept URLs or other referencecode which links to the required information. That information can bestored on the provider's web site, a third party web site, ordistributed at various locations.

Step 3: Define Contest Parameters

In this step the provider can further customize their contest, forexample, to add content and match the contest forms to the provider'sown web pages. Customization can be provided through a combination ofsoftware code such as, for example, XML (extendable markup language),wherein certain standard YCN elements are called through known codesegments. Alternatively, preformatted YCN web forms can be used to enterprovider contest parameters. In one embodiment, for example, thecustomizations can include:

-   -   1—Contest Text: The provider can enter any number lines of text        for his contest, and depending on implementation, this text can        include code segments to include graphics, design, or text from        the provider's web site.    -   2—Contest Logo    -   3—Logo background color or image    -   4—Page background color or image    -   5—Text font, size, and color    -   6—Assigning their contest to be a “Private” or “Public” contest:        -   a. Public Contest means that YCN will list this provider's            contest on the YCN's directory of live contests, whereby YCN            visitors other than those forwarded by the provider's own            web site can visit this contest and vote.        -   b. Private Contest means that this contest will not be            listed on the YCN directory of live contests. Therefore,            only visitors forwarded from the provider's own web site can            visit this contest and vote.    -   7—Including Contest Directory Link on the pages of the        provider's contest        -   a. YES means that visitors to this contest can click on the            link and will be able to visit and vote in other contests on            the YCN network.        -   b. NO means that there will be no Contest Directory link on            the provider's contest pages.    -   8—Including Banner Advertising        -   a. YES means that YCN will be displaying YCN-controlled            banner advertising on the pages of this provider's pages.        -   b. NO means that no banner ads will be displayed on the            pages of this provider's contest. If provider answers NO, he            will have to pay additional charges to YourContest.net.

These options are provided by means of example. One of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate that the options can be extended, includingadjusting the web page formatting to virtually any form, so long as somebasic YCN elements remain present.

Step 4: Pay Service Fee

In this step, the provider pays for the use of YCN contest services andany other charges, for example by using a secure e-commerce system. Eachcontest template may have a pre-defined price. A YCN server can be usedwithout an e-commerce connection (i.e. as a free system), and thee-commerce server can be used at other points in the YCN server such as,for example, to purchase additional content.

Step 5: Publish Contest

The YCN provider defines a contest start time. In one embodiment, thetime is specified by a day and hour format, although the time can beprovided in any known format, or a pre-defined but overrideable starttime (e.g., the morning after provider contest publication at 8:00 AM)can be used. To activate the YCN provider contest, the provider clicksthe PUBLISH button or performs an analogous “submission” action topublish the contest.

As long as the contest start time has not arrived, the provider canmodify the contest start time and, in some embodiments, modify otherfeatures of the contest. However, once the contest has started, onlycertain customizable features of the contest can be edited, as describedbelow for the Provider Administrative Tools (“PAT”). The YCN providercontest can be deleted, after which the contest will be over.

Provider Administrative Tool (“PAT”)

Through the Provider Administrative Tool (“PAT”) a YCN provider canperform administrative tasks related to their contest or contests hostedon YCN. For example, the PAT can permit the provider to edit theirprovider profile, manage end-users of the provider's contests, add newcontests, edit existing contests, contact the YCN system administrator,seek help, and the like.

Specifically, YCN providers can edit their registration informationwhich was originally entered upon registration. Further, YCN providerscan manage end-users who use the provider's YCN contests. These areend-users who were forwarded to YCN via the provider's web site and, inone embodiment, then registered as members of YCN. In one embodiment,the provider can:

-   -   1—search for an end-user by Login Name (i.e. end-user Name),        First Name, or Last Name.    -   2—access limited information about members        -   a. First Name        -   b. Last Name        -   c. Login Name        -   d. E-mail Address        -   e. Number of Votes Cast in each of the provider's contests

Depending on provider web site privacy policies, YCN privacy policies,and state and federal law, access to end-user and/or providerinformation can be limited. These limitations can be implemented by theYCN system administrator or by individual YCN providers.

Through the PAT, a YCN provider can use the CCW to create a new YCNcontest, or to edit existing YCN contests. In one embodiment, if a YCNcontest has already started, provider can edit:

-   -   (a) Contestant Pool names    -   (b) Contest Round names    -   (c) Photo and Media Content/Media Content URL of the contestants    -   (d) Background and text colors

If a contest has not already started, the provider can edit all contestand contestant parameters that are available in the CCW.

YCN Administrator Intranet

The YCN Administrator Intranet (“YAI”) allows YCN system administratorsto manage and monitor the providers and contests of YCN. The YAI is onlyaccessible to YCN personnel and is not typically accessible to YCNproviders or YCN end-users.

The YCN system administrators can get summary and detail reports for allYCN contests. In one embodiment, information includes:

-   -   (a) Contest Status (e.g., In Progress, Pending (not started),        Over)    -   (b) Contest Type (e.g., 2-stage, 4-stage)    -   (c) Referring Web Site    -   (d) Contact person    -   (e) Unique Voters: Number of unique YCN members (whether or not        they were referred by provider's site) who have voted in this        Contest    -   (f) Total Votes: total number of votes cast in a contest by        Unique Voters    -   (g) Contest Details: Detail of the contest including contestant        names in each stage, each match, number of votes cast per        contestant, etc.

The system administrator can generate several types of accountingreports including reports for all contests, selected contests, allproviders, selected providers, etc. The YCN system administrator canalso generate Summary and Detail reports of its providers, and allattributes of the contest(s) created by the providers. Finally, the YCNsystem administrator can generate Summary and Detail reports of all YCNregistered members.

YCN Front End

Once a provider creates and publishes a contest, the YCN server providesthe provider with contest code such as a URL (“uniform resourcelocator”) to be embedded in the provider's site (e.g.yourcontest.net/@providersite.com), content to be “framed” within theprovider's site, a set of markup language code such as HTML, XML, andthe like, or a set of script commands such as, for example, Java orJavaScript.

When visitors to the provider's site click on the above URL, they willenter the provider's contest, which in one embodiment is hosted on theYourContest.net servers. From there, the front end can resemble the fanelimination contest portion of the TPICS system described previously, orcan use style sheets, markup language, or other customized formsprovided by YCN or a YCN provider which contain standard YCN elements.

In one embodiment, non-user visitors to YCN (visitors to the YCN sitewho are not registered YCN end-users) can move around the contest pools(matches) and read about and listen to contestants, but cannot vote.Similarly, in one embodiment, visitors will have to register to YCN(which can be the same database as TPICS or a database associated with aprovider site), to become an end-user. Registered end-users then canvote in the pools. In one embodiment, each time a registered membervotes, he/she earns sweepstakes entries as defined in the a system tablesuch as the TPICS vote weight tables, an example of which is shownbelow:

TABLE 3 Entries for each Entries for each Total Votes Incorrect VoteCorrect Vote  1-15 1 entry 2 entries 16-30 2 entries 4 entries 31-45 4entries 8 entries 46 or more 8 entries 16 entries 

For all “correct” votes (votes for a contestant who wins a contestround), refer-a-friend (referrals of friends who register with thesite), registration with YCN, and opt-in entries are also calculated asdefined in, for example, a similar vote weight table.

In one embodiment, the “Home” option takes the end-user back to theprovider site that had originally referred the end-user to YCN when theend-user registered with YCN. Alternatively the “Home” option can takean end-user to the YCN homepage or any page designated by YCN, theprovider, or customized by the end-user. The “Vote” option takes theend-user to the YCN provider contest to which the end-user was referred.

The “My Picks” option calculates and displays the YCN contest names andthe date of each vote for a particular end-user, along with, in oneembodiment, the number of sweepstakes entries and other statistics for aparticular YCN end-user.

The “My Sweepstakes” option calculates and displays summary and detailreports for a YCN end-user's particular votes and sweepstakes entries.The report could, for example, display the votes (e.g. correct, wrong,etc.) for all the YCN contests in which the member has voted, along withadditional sweepstakes entries for other YCN activities such asreferring a friend, and the like. The end-user can modify his/herpersonal data through a “My Profile” option.

The “Contest Directory” displays an updated list of all active andpublic YCN contests. An active contest is one that is currently inprogress (voting is open to registered end-users). A YCN providerchooses during contest creation whether the contest is public (displayedfor all end-users to enter in the “Contest Directory”) or private (notdisplayed in the “Contest Directory” and only open to end-users fromthat provider's web site.)

YCN is designed and implemented with open-ended scalability andperformance in mind. Potentially, hundred of providers could createthousands of contests which would all be running in parallel, with tensof thousands of end-users voting on-line. In addition, the “PromotionalCode” feature allows administrators or providers to selectively giveusers or providers discount coupons (through, for example, couponpasswords), and contains the functionality below:

-   -   (a) Generate Promotional Code: Allow YCN system administrator to        generate Promotional Codes    -   (b) Add a new field to the E-commerce page, called “Promotional        Code”. Providers, who enter a valid Promotional Code, can create        a contest for free or have some type of discount.        Member E-mail Confirmation

When a new person registers to YCN as a YCN end-user, the system mayautomatically send a confirmation e-mail to the registrant's e-mailaddress. The end-user typically then clicks on a link inside the body ofthe e-mail, or alternatively replies to the system confirmation e-mail,to confirm registration. This provides some assurance that YCN onlyregisters end-users with valid e-mail addresses. If the automated systeme-mail results in an error, that is if the registrant's e-mail addressis not valid, the end-user typically is not registered as a YCNend-user.

Instant Vote Calculation and Results

Once a YCN end-user successfully casts a vote in a pool, the YCN systemtypically calculates the vote results for all contestants in the poolautomatically and displays the results to the end-user. For example,there are 3 contestants in a pool, where contestant A has 55 votes,Contestant B has 34 votes, and Contestant C has 10 votes. If an end-usercasts a vote for Contestant B, system should then automaticallycalculate all the votes and display the following to the member:

-   -   (a) Contestant A: 55    -   (b) Contestant B: 35    -   (c) Contestant C: 10

This invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the essential characteristics as described herein. The embodimentsdescribed above are to be considered in all respects as illustrativeonly and not restrictive in any manner. The scope of the invention isindicated by the following claims and their equivalents rather than bythe foregoing description.

1. A computer based contest method comprising: accessingcomputer-executable instructions from at least one computer-readablestorage medium; and executing the computer-executable instructions,thereby causing computer hardware comprising at least one computerprocessor to perform operations comprising: receiving first contentdata, the first content data representing a first content work from afirst content creator; storing the first content data in a computeraccessible data storage; receiving second content data, the secondcontent data representing a second content work from a second contentcreator; storing the second content data in the computer accessible datastorage; selecting the first and second content data from the computeraccessible data storage; generating contest data based on the first andsecond content data wherein the contest data comprise a representationof the first and second content works; transmitting the contest data tocause the contest data to be displayed on a computer generated stage,and causing the computer generated stage to display both the first andsecond content data simultaneously, the computer generated stage isdisplayed on a display device; generating vote request data representinga request to at least one user to cast at least one vote for the firstcontent work or for the second content work; receiving vote data andaggregating the vote data, the vote data representing at least one votefor the first content work or for the second content work; and comparingaggregate vote data for the first and second content works, wherein theaggregate vote data is received from a plurality of users.
 2. Thecomputer based method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:comparing a first number of votes for the first content work to a secondnumber of votes for the second content work; and selecting the firstcontent work as the winning work if the first number of votes for thefirst content work is greater than the second number of votes for thesecond content work.
 3. The computer based method of claim 2, furthercomprising the step of generating a vote status display that representsa number of votes for the first content work and a number of votes forthe second content work.
 4. The computer based contest method of claim2, wherein the winning work is selected after a period of timerepresenting the duration of the contest.
 5. The computer based contestmethod of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: receiving firstexpert review data, the first expert review data comprising a firstscore for the first content work, wherein at least one expert assignsthe first score to the first content work; and receiving second expertreview data, the second expert review data comprising a second score forthe second content work, wherein at least one expert assigns the secondscore to the second content work.
 6. The computer based contest methodof claim 5, wherein the step of transmitting the contest data occursafter receipt of the first and second expert review data.
 7. Thecomputer based contest method of claim 5, further comprising the step ofcomparing the first and second expert review data to select either thefirst content work or the second content work as a top scoring contentwork.
 8. The computer based contest method of claim 7, furthercomprising the step of adding top scoring content data representing theselected top scoring content work to contest pool data that represent aplurality of content works.
 9. The computer based contest method ofclaim 8, further comprising the step of transmitting contest pool data.10. The computer based contest method of claim 1, wherein the step oftransmitting the contest data occurs after a predetermined time.
 11. Thecomputer based contest method of claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprises selecting at least one of the first or second content works asa winner based on the aggregated vote data.
 12. A contest systemcomprising: at least one computer processor configured to executemodules comprising at least: a producer submission module configured toreceive first content data, the first content data representing a firstcontent work from a first content creator; a computer readable storageconfigured to store the first content data; the producer submissionmodule configured to receive second content data, the second contentdata representing a second content work from a second content creator;the computer readable storage configured to store the second contentdata; a content filtering module configured to select the first andsecond content data from the computer readable storage; a contestcreation module configured to generate contest data based on the firstand second content data wherein the contest data comprise arepresentation of the first and second content works; a communicationsmodule configured to transmit over a network the contest data to causethe contest data to be displayed on a computer generated stage, and tocause the computer generated stage to display both the first and secondcontent data simultaneously, the computer generated stage is displayedon a display device; a voting module configured to generate vote requestdata representing a request to at least one user to cast at least onevote for the first content work or for the second content work; thevoting module configured to receive vote data and aggregating the votedata, the vote data representing at least one vote for the first contentwork or for the second content work; and the voting module configured tocompare aggregate vote data for the first and second content works,wherein the aggregate vote data is received from a plurality of users.13. The contest system of claim 12, wherein the voting module is furtherconfigured to compare a first number of votes for the first content workto a second number of votes for the second content work; and select thefirst content work as the winning work if the first number of votes forthe first content work is greater than the second number of votes forthe second content work.
 14. The contest system of claim 13, wherein thewinning work is selected after a period of time representing theduration of the contest.
 15. The contest system of claim 12, wherein thevoting module is further configured to generate a vote status displaydata that represents a number of votes for the first content work and anumber of votes for the second content work and transmit the vote statusdisplay data over a network to cause the vote status display data to bedisplayed on the computer generated stage.
 16. The contest system ofclaim 12, wherein the communications module is further configured totransmit the contest data after a predetermined time.
 17. The contestsystem of claim 12, wherein the voting module is further configured toselect at least one of the first or second content works as a winnerbased on the aggregated vote data.
 18. The computer based contest methodof claim 12, further comprising: an expert review module configured toreceive first expert review data, the first expert review datacomprising a first score for the first content work; the expert reviewmodule configured to further receive second expert review data, thesecond expert review data comprising a second score for the secondcontent work; the expert review module configured to further compare thefirst and second expert review data to select either the first contentwork or the second content work as a top scoring content work; and acontest module configured to add top scoring content data representingthe selected top scoring content work to contest pool data thatrepresent a plurality of content works.
 19. The contest system of claim12, further comprising an expert review module configured to receivefirst expert review data, the first expert review data comprising afirst score for the first content work, wherein at least one expertassigns the first score to the first content work; and configured toreceive second expert review data, the second expert review datacomprising a second score for the first content work, wherein at leastone expert assigns the second score to the second content work.
 20. Thecontest system of claim 19, wherein the communications module isconfigured to transmit the contest data after receipt of the first andsecond expert review data.
 21. The contest system of claim 19, whereinthe expert review module is further configured to compare the first andsecond expert review data to select either the first content work or thesecond content work as a top scoring content work.
 22. A computer basedcontest method comprising: accessing computer-executable instructionsfrom at least one computer-readable storage medium; and executing thecomputer-executable instructions, thereby causing computer hardwarecomprising at least one computer processor to perform operationscomprising: receiving first content data, the first content datarepresenting a first content work from a first content creator; storingthe first content data in a computer accessible data storage; receivingsecond content data, the second content data representing a secondcontent work from a second content creator; storing the second contentdata in the computer accessible data storage; selecting the first andsecond content data from the computer accessible data storage;generating contest data based on the first and second content datawherein the contest data comprise a representation of the first andsecond content works; transmitting the contest data to cause the contestdata to be displayed on a computer generated stage, and causing thecomputer generated stage to display both the first and second contentdata simultaneously, the computer generated stage is displayed on adisplay device; generating vote request data representing a request toat least one user to cast at least one vote for the first content workor for the second content work; receiving vote data and aggregating thevote data, the vote data representing at least one vote for the firstcontent work or for the second content work; comparing aggregate votedata for the first and second content works, wherein the aggregate votedata is received from a plurality of users; receiving first expertreview data, the first expert review data comprising a first score forthe first content work; receiving second expert review data, the secondexpert review data comprising a second score for the second contentwork; comparing the first and second expert review data to select eitherthe first content work or the second content work as a top scoringcontent work; adding top scoring content data representing the selectedtop scoring content work to contest pool data that represent a pluralityof content works.
 23. The computer based contest method of claim 22,further comprising the step of transmitting contest pool data.
 24. Thecomputer based contest method of claim 22, further comprising selectingat least one of the first or second content works as a winner based onthe aggregated vote data.
 25. The computer based method of claim 22,further comprising: comparing a first number of votes for the firstcontent work to a second number of votes for the second content work;and selecting the first content work as the winning work if the firstnumber of votes for the first content work is greater than the secondnumber of votes for the second content work.
 26. The computer basedmethod of claim 25, further comprising generating a vote status displaythat displays a number of votes for the first content work and a numberof votes for the second content work.